Seeking Participants For Study

[corvus]

I'm currently running a pilot study on optimism in dogs. It's a fun program, but kind of time consuming as it takes the dogs a few weeks to learn the task so we can test how optimistic they are. If anyone is in the Sutherland Shire and is interested in participating, could you please let me know? The time commitment is half an hour per dog most days for maybe 4 weeks at most. Training happens at your home so the dog is in a place they are comfortable in.

[Jumabaar]

I'm currently running a pilot study on optimism in dogs. It's a fun program, but kind of time consuming as it takes the dogs a few weeks to learn the task so we can test how optimistic they are. If anyone is in the Sutherland Shire and is interested in participating, could you please let me know? The time commitment is half an hour per dog most days for maybe 4 weeks at most. Training happens at your home so the dog is in a place they are comfortable in.

Bugger- on the wrong side of the army base!!

[corvus]

Bump.

I need one more dog for this pilot study. Well, probably two, as one of the current ones has an incredibly short attention span and would rather be wrestling.

[mita]

Bump.

I need one more dog for this pilot study. Well, probably two, as one of the current ones has an incredibly short attention span and would rather be wrestling.

Maybe he's optimistic about having a good time.

Is this where the study derives from?

http://sydney.edu.au/vetscience/teaching_learning/surveys/bias_dogs.shtml

Seems there's been some work done on the topic at Bristol University in the UK. Interesting. I'd never heard the terms 'optimism' or 'pessimism' being used with dogs.

http://www.livesofanimals.org/2011/03/03/optimism-and-pessimism-in-dogs/

Edited August 3, 2011 by mita

[corvus]

Mita, I bet he's plenty optimistic. ;) If the reward was a game of tug he'd be all over it.

Yes, it is through the University of Sydney and is related to the personality survey I did earlier.

Optimism and pessimism is shorthand for cognitive bias in judgement. It's a very interesting topic and may yet prove to be an excellent assessor of welfare. We will see, though. It's never been tested on a large number of individual animals. Hopefully I can change that for dogs at least!

[wagsalot]

What's involved ? (As in how much time do I need to have spare? )

You might be able to use Riley?

[corvus]

I would love to use Riley. :D

Training sessions go for 30 minutes, plus it takes about 10 minutes to set up the apparatus. So far I have a dog on his 14th training session and he's very close to mastering the discrimination task, and then it will be another three sessions for testing his optimism. He has a friend who is also on her 14th training session and is still probably at least 4 sessions away from mastering the discrimination task. So it kind of depends on the dog how many sessions they need. I generally do one session a day with them, but rarely do weekends. They can go up to 5 days between training sessions if something like a long weekend or a few very busy days come up.

So in summary, about 40 minutes a day (minus weekends and other interruptions) for maybe 4 weeks, give or take. It's largely automated, so we just sit back and watch them work. It's quite interesting watching them being trained by a machine. You get a real sense of their personality and learning style.