Why my dog drinks beer

* 17:00 26 April 2007
* NewScientist.com news service
* Roxanne Khamsi
When dogs learn new tricks, they do not simply copy what they see, but interpret it, suggests a new study, which provides evidence that man's best friend possesses a human-like ability to understand the goals and intentions of others.

In the experiment, a well-trained Border collie bitch demonstrated to untrained dogs how to pull a lever for food using her paw. If she did this while carrying a toy ball between her teeth, the dogs in her audience would instead tug the lever with their mouths when their turn arrived. These animals appeared to be thinking that she used her paw only because her mouth held a ball, say researchers.

Forty other dogs – none of which had seen the food lever before – observed the well-trained collie pull it for a biscuit 10 times. Half of them saw the collie carry out the task with nothing in her mouth. Almost all of these observers used their paws when given a chance to tug the lever for food.

"We were very surprised to see this 'selective imitation' by the dogs," says Range, referring to how the dogs' actions depended on whether the Border collie carried a ball. "They didn't just copy blindly what they saw." She believes it is the first time that this sort of selective imitation has been shown in animals besides humans.

The new dog study involved almost two dozen breeds, including Labradors and various herding dogs, ranging in age from one to 12 years. So Range believes that most dogs rely on selective imitation to learn.Read on...

Thinking out of the box

She notes that some experiments in chimps have shown signs of a related – but not identical – type of sophisticated imitation. In one study, for example, chimps observed a human poke a stick twice into a transparent box of food. The first, an ineffective jab from above, was always followed by a fruitful jab from the side. The chimps skipped the first, unnecessary jab when they had a chance to try for the food reward themselves.

But while Range argues that sophisticated imitation might help animals learn, some experts believe that mindless copying can actually give species – even humans – an advantage when used appropriately.

Basic copycat behaviour can result in speedier mastery of very simple tasks, they say (see Mindless imitation teaches us how to be human).

Journal reference: Current Biology (DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.04.026)