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Dogs that vocalized during free talk spent a significantly higher proportion of time moving their tails (U = 210.0, p = 0,002; Figure 2) and jumping (U = 185.5, p = 0,040; Figure 2) than dogs that did not vocalize.

 

Figure 2. Proportion of time in tail moving (left) and jumping (right) behaviour between dogs that vocalized and dogs that did not in Session 1 (free talk). The red bars indicate silent dogs that did not vocalize and blue bars indicate dogs that vocalized. Whiskers indicate  1 SE. * indicate p < 0.05 and ** indicate p <0.01.

Differences in behaviour between refusal phase and affirmative phase

Figure 3. Vocalizations (top left), whines (top right), and stress-related behaviours (middle) per minute during the refusal phase and the affirmative phase. Mean vocal intensity for the owners (bottom left) and dogs (bottom right) during the refusal phase and the affirmative phase. The blue bars indicate the refusal phase and green bars indicate the affirmative phase. Whiskers indicate  1 SE. * indicate p < 0.05, ** indicate p <0.01 and *** indicate p < 0.001.

 

Dogs vocalized more often during the refusal phase than the affirmative phase with both teasers (Treat: z = 64.0, p = 0.042; Toy: z = 127.0, p = 0.071; Figure 3). Similarly, dogs whined significantly more often during the refusal phase with a treat as teaser than the affirmative phase (z = 114.0, p = 0.017; Figure 3).

Dogs also performed significantly more stress-related behaviours per minute during the refusal phase than the affirmative phase with a treat as teaser (z = 10.0, p < 0.001; Figure 3).

The owners had higher vocal intensity during the affirmative phase than the refusal phase (z = 183.0, p = 0.004), but the vocal frequency did not differ significantly between the refusal phase and the affirmative phase. Dogs had the same vocal intensity and frequency during both the refusal phase and the affirmative phase.

Turn-taking

The mean proportion of overlaps for all analyzed dogs combined ranged from 14 - 50 % (table 2). The mean size of gaps during turn changes for all analysed dogs combined ranged from 0.8 – 1.4 s. The percentage of gaps that were smaller than one second for all analysed dogs combined ranged from 53 – 85 %.

 

Table 2. Percentage of gaps smaller than one second, mean gap size and proportion of overlaps for all analysed dogs combined during the different sessions and phases.

Differences between male and female dogs’ communication with their owner

During free talk females tended to perform more overlaps in proportion to the number of vocalizations compared to males (U = 8.5, p = 0.073; Figure 4). However, during the refusal phase in sessions with a toy as teaser, males performed significantly more overlaps per minute than females (U = 53.0, p = 0.048; Figure 4).

 

Figure 4. Overlaps per minute during the refusal phase with a toy as teaser (left) and during free talk (right). The green bars indicate female dogs and yellow bars indicate male dogs. Whiskers indicate  1 SE. * indicate p < 0.05 and (*) indicate p < 0.1.

Differences between young and old dogs’ communication with their owner

Figure 5. The proportion of time young and old dogs spent vocalizing (top left) and whining (top right). Gazes at owner (bottom left) and gazes at treat (bottom right) performed by young and old dogs. The pink bars indicate young dogs and purple bars indicate male dogs. Whiskers indicate  1 SE. * indicate p < 0.05 and ** indicate p < 0.01.

Young dogs vocalized significantly more during the refusal phases (U = 26.5, p = 0.030; Figure 5) and also whined significantly more during these phases (U = 43.5, p = 0.034; Figure 5).

Young dogs gazed at their owner significantly more often than old dogs during the refusal phase with a treat as teaser (U = 25.0, p = 0.002; Figure 5). During this phase young dogs also gazed at the treat significantly more often than old dogs (U = 37.0, p = 0.014).


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Last updated: 05/22/19