Forty-one Border Collie dogs participated in the study (iStock)
Who's a good dog? It turns out if you don't mind waiting for the answer, you'll be an even better dog than you were before.
A study published this week in journal PLOS ONE tracked 41 Border Collie dogs over 18 months.
It tested them by allowing the pups to play with
particular toys and then giving them problem-solving activities which
built on what they had learned from their earlier toys.
The authors found in the problem-solving exercises,
the dogs approached each new test as an entirely new task and didn't use
any of the knowledge they had developed beforehand.
However,
there was a correlation between the pups which had proven themselves to
be better at self-control and how successful they were at certain
problem-solving tasks.
A pooch's level of
self-control was assessed before the problem-solving tasks began,
determined by how well they achieved tasks such as waiting for a treat.
The
authors suggest further study of the link between self-control and
problem-solving performance could help us understand how different
individuals deal with physical problem-solving, and the differences
between the skills across different species.
The
study was restricted to one breed, that of the Border Collie, in order
to eliminate any breed differences which could influence the results.
Newshub.
Post a Comment