Canine and Feline Social Structure

What are two similarities between the social structures of dogs and cats?

• dogs and cats are both social animals

• dogs and cats are both territorial

Are dogs or cats more likely to live in groups?

Dogs are, but this can change based on the situation and location

Describe the territorial behavior of cats

• cats’ territories are based on available resources (ex. space, food, etc.) - overlapping between males and females

• cats “time-share” valued space and resources

  • i.e. a sunny spot will be shared by different cats over the course of a day

Describe the social structure in wild cats

• small wild cats are typically more solitary - they hunt and live alone

  • feral cats are an exception, they evolved to live in groups around resource focal points

• large wild cats like lions can be more social

What factors affect the social structures of free-roaming and feral cats?

• relatedness

• factors affecting cat density and sociability

  • resources supersede familial bonds

What factors are considered with social groups of domestic/house cat?

• artificially formed groups, relatedness may play a role

• very different from how cats have evolved

Describe dominant behavior in dogs

Occurs when one individual actively competes with another for access to or control over desired resources. While some dogs may exhibit more dominant behavior, that does NOT mean they are “dominant dogs.”

Is there such a thing as a “dominant dog?”

• dominance should be restricted to describing relationships, not individual animals

• no evidence to suggest that dogs form dominance based social hierarchies

• there can be dominant and submissive behaviors, but that does not define what type of dog they are (personality is more nuanced than just being “submissive” or “dominant”)

Why is there so much debate over dominance in dogs?

• Idea is that people should be the “dominant” one. If we label a dog as dominant, it can strain relationships if we try to “put the dog in its place.” The approach should be to work with the dog and get them to listen

• the concept of dominance and alpha leader has an effect of how we think of aggression, how it applies to training methods, and how we get along with our pets

How is dominance described in ethology?

It is a descriptive term of a relationship between two individuals. Dominance is normally defined as an attribute or the pattern of repeated, agonistic interactions between two individuals, characterized by consistent outcome in favor of the same dyad member and default yielding response of the opponent rather than escalation.

Describe the evidence for dominance in dogs from wolves

• idea of dominance came from the social structure of wolves, but their social structure is not what we thought it was because we mostly studied and based our ideas on captive wolves, which have different behaviors than their wild counterparts

• the breeding male and female is generally regarded as more accurate than the term “alpha wolf”

  • David Mech is originally to blame for the alpha term, but has since rebuked it

• circular model of relationships is more accurate than linear model of dominance

Which do you think would make a better model for dog social behavior - captive wolves or wild wolves?

a. captive wolves

b. wild wolves

c. neither

a. captive wolves - more similar to how we keep dogs

Describe the social structure of feral dogs

• evidence indicates that feral dogs have a very lose pack structure, without a lot of cooperative behavior

• coherent social groups based on family relationships

• reproduction does not appear to be controlled by hierarchy

• different social structure than wolves

Describe the Resource Holding Potential Model (RHP model)

• this model predicts the outcome of disputes on the subjective value of the resource (i.e. Dog A values something more than Dog B)

  • does not require a previous relationship

  • size of an individual is not a predictor of outcome

  • stable dominance hierarchies can arise based on past histories

  • probably oversimplifies these relationships

Describe Bradshaw et. al’s model of canine social interaction

• based on Associative Learning Theory

• learn to recognize specific cues that might predict a positive or negative response in the other individual

  • essentially testing the waters to see how another dog reacts regarding resources or other environmental factors

• outcome of first interaction will influence subsequent responses

• “No reason to suppose that “trying to achieve status” is characteristic of dog-human interactions either”

Describe Range and Viranyi’s thoughts how dog-human cooperation developed

• they suggest that the cooperative behavior of wolves has provided a good basis for the evolution of dog-human cooperation

• dogs are equipped with

  • social tolerance

  • social attentiveness

How does human attention influence play behavior in dogs?

• Mehrkam and Wynn, 2001

  • dogs play more with each other in the presence of humans than when humans are not present