The Feeding Behavior of Dogs Correlates with their Responses to Commands

Okamoto, Yuta; Ohtani, Nobuyo; Uchiyama, Hidehiko; Ohta, Mitsuaki

doi:10.1292/jvms.001617

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…It appears that the satiety centers in these dogs are not functioning. They experience difficulty during training when switching from food to a secondary reinforcement, and thus they sometimes reject the owner’s commands when a food reward is not used [ 19 ]. While food is a convenient reinforcement tool, it is difficult to build good owner–dog relationship if the owners do not understand their dog’s levels of interest in food [ 19 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They experience difficulty during training when switching from food to a secondary reinforcement, and thus they sometimes reject the owner’s commands when a food reward is not used [ 19 ]. While food is a convenient reinforcement tool, it is difficult to build good owner–dog relationship if the owners do not understand their dog’s levels of interest in food [ 19 ]. Okamoto et al [ 19 ] also demonstrated that the feeding speed (g/sec) and the amount of food consumed per mouthful did not depend on sex, age, or the dogs’ body size.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While food is a convenient reinforcement tool, it is difficult to build good owner–dog relationship if the owners do not understand their dog’s levels of interest in food [ 19 ]. Okamoto et al [ 19 ] also demonstrated that the feeding speed (g/sec) and the amount of food consumed per mouthful did not depend on sex, age, or the dogs’ body size. At present, few studies have been conducted to evaluate what factors effect canine feeding behavior through the above mentioned mechanisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Increased Feeding Speed Is Associated with Higher Subsequent Sympathetic Activity in Dogs

et al. 2015

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Although the domestication process has altered the feeding behavior of dogs, some breeds still demonstrate a remarkable ability to gorge, and will eat exceptionally large quantities of food whenever it is available. Lesions in the ventromedial hypothalamus increase appetite and lead to obesity, suggesting that the autonomic nervous system plays an important role in feeding. Focusing on the autonomic activities closely involved in food intake, we investigated sympathetic activities before and after feeding in dogs. The subjects were 56 healthy dogs of 21 different breeds (29 males and 27 females). Based on feeding habits, the 56 dogs were divided into three groups: Fast (n = 19), Slow (n = 24) and Leftover (n = 13). The feeding speed and the amount of food per mouthful of the Fast dogs were significantly greater than those of the Slow and the Leftover dogs. The plasma norepinephrine level in dogs of the Fast group was significantly increased after feeding, while those in the Slow and Leftover groups were significantly decreased after feeding, compared with the pre-feeding concentrations. The low frequency/high frequency ratio of heart rate variability is a good indicator of sympathetic activity and was also significantly higher in the Fast group than in the other groups. Delayed feeding using automatic feeding equipment decreased the plasma norepinephrine concentration and low frequency/high frequency ratio observed after feeding in dogs of the Fast group. In conclusion, dogs eating rapidly with less chewing, which indicates increased sympathetic activity during feeding, may benefit from delayed feeding. The slow eating may activate the parasympathetic nervous system after feeding, which could enhance the activity of the digestive system.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Increased Feeding Speed Is Associated with Higher Subsequent Sympathetic Activity in Dogs

et al. 2015

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“…Identifying effective reinforcers is essential for training and maintaining desirable behaviors across species. In domestic dogs, prior research has identified food as an effective positive reinforcer (Feuerbacher & Wynne, 2012; Fukuzawa & Hayashi, 2013; Okamoto et al, 2009). Despite its utility as a reinforcer, using food requires extra effort on the part of the owner, as it must be prepared and carried during training.…”

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confidence: 99%

Social interaction can function as a reinforcer for dogs: Effects of stimulus duration and session parameters

Feuerbacher

Togher

Friedel

2023

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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Prior research has produced mixed results on whether human social interaction can function as a reinforcer for dog behavior. However, that research used either short durations of social interaction or rapid, repeated trials such that satiation could have been a factor. We investigated whether two durations of social interaction (30 s or 4 s petting plus vocal praise) would maintain more responding than extinction, than each other, or than food. We limited each session to 10 trials and temporally spaced sessions within and across days. Both durations of social interaction produced more responding than extinction, but there was no difference in responding between the two social interaction durations. When we compared responding in food sessions to 30‐s and 4‐s social interaction sessions, we could not determine differences in responses emitted per session for two dogs due to ceiling effects, but the third dog doubled her responding when food was provided. Additionally, latencies in food sessions for all dogs were significantly lower than expected from a random sampling of latencies. Our results suggest both durations of social interaction can function as a reinforcer, especially when delivered sporadically, but they are still not as effective as food as a reinforcer for most dogs.

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“…Research investigating the use of food as an effective reinforcer for dog behavior has found that food typically resulted in more correct responses to human obedience cues than petting or praise (Okamoto et al, 2009). Similarly, Fukuzawa and Hayashi (2013) found that, in comparison to petting or praise, food reinforcement resulted in dogs reaching criterion faster for the behaviors of sit, stay, and come, and resulted in faster responding during recall (come).…”

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confidence: 99%

Give the dog a big bone: Magnitude but not delivery method of food impacts preference and reinforcer efficacy in dogs.

Feuerbacher¹,

Stone²,

Friedel³

2022

Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice

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Despite the prevalence of reinforcement-based training practices in animal training, little research has investigated how to enhance the efficacy of delivered consequences; effective reinforcers are critical for maintaining long chains of behavior, such as in working animals, and for competing with environmental reinforcers. Two potentially easy methods to increase efficacy of reinforcers used in animal training are increasing magnitude (e.g., deliver 4 pieces of food instead of 1) or altering delivery (e.g., offer reinforcers 1-by-1 with simultaneous praise or all at once without praise). In Experiment 1, we evaluated dogs' preference for (a) several treats delivered 1-by-1 with simultaneous praise or all treats delivered at once without praise and (b) large or small food magnitudes. In Experiment 2, we assessed reinforcer efficacy of these delivery methods and magnitudes by measuring dogs' break points using Basis 2 progressive ratio 1 schedule of reinforcement. We also evaluated whether delivery of praise when delivering treats impacted reinforcer efficacy of the treats. Results showed that magnitude reliably increased reinforcer efficacy, with large magnitude reinforcers producing break points nearly twice those of small magnitude reinforcers. In contrast, delivery method had small, inconsistent effects on reinforcer efficacy. The provision of simultaneous praise had no effect on responding. Generally, preference tests predicted relative reinforcer efficacy. Our results suggest small treats can be used in training for maintaining short behavior chains but larger magnitude treats are likely warranted for longer behavior chains.

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The Feeding Behavior of Dogs Correlates with their Responses to Commands

Cited by 9 publications

References 11 publications

Increased Feeding Speed Is Associated with Higher Subsequent Sympathetic Activity in Dogs

Increased Feeding Speed Is Associated with Higher Subsequent Sympathetic Activity in Dogs

Social interaction can function as a reinforcer for dogs: Effects of stimulus duration and session parameters

Give the dog a big bone: Magnitude but not delivery method of food impacts preference and reinforcer efficacy in dogs.

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