OddFile: Puppy Love
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Looking for love? Let a dog help you find it — but not just any dog. That’s according to “The facilitation of social interactions by domestic dogs“:
Research suggests that dogs can facilitate social interactions, which, in turn, may promote psychological health. This study explored the ability of dogs to facilitate social responses relative to other accompaniments and investigated whether the social catalysis effect is generic or influenced by the appearance of the dog. The behavior of 1800 pedestrians approaching a female experimenter was recorded as a function of the presence of three dogs (Labrador Retriever pup, Labrador adult, Rottweiler adult) and two neutral stimuli (teddy bear, potted plant). The behavior of pedestrians approaching the woman whenever she was alone (control) was also explored. Information was collected on the passers-by’ gender, number of people in the party, type of acknowledgement elicited and length of conversations. More people ignored the experimenter whenever she was alone or with the teddy or plant, than whenever she was walking a dog. The Rottweiler resulted in more nonresponses than the puppy or adult Labrador, who in turn elicited more smiles and verbal responses. Females, and those alone, elicited more smiles and conversations than males, or those in pairs. It is concluded that dogs can facilitate social interactions between adults better than other accompaniments; however, the social catalysis effect is not generic, but dog specific.
They should have tested beagle puppies, which are, of course, the best dogs possible.
HT: Jena Pincott
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Well,yeah. I stop and say hello to dogs — and their owners — all the time. I don’t stop to say hello, or pat, plants or teddy bears. I think that might be seen as a little odd, don’t you?
One of life’ great pleasures for dog-lovers is chatting to other dog-lovers and “meeting” their animals. Our town has a coffee-shop known for welcoming people, and their dogs.
Are we to assume Ryan has a beagle? This actually is a great argument to have two dogs of different types. I have two, one a shepherd-retriever mix and the other a rotti-pit mix. Ralphie the pit mix definitely attracts more attention from a younger more street savvy type. Tucker the other dog he gets more cuddle type of attention. So if you care to meet a variety of people definitely get two dogs of different type. I’m sure you all now want to see my dogs, so here’s their pic:
http://www.brianarens.com/blog/tnr.jpg
I actually pretty much don’t like animals at all — would never have a pet. But I have a soft spot for beagles, particularly small ones. Labs are OK, too. But that’s about it for me and canines.
In response to another comment. See in context »Interesting as beagles are not one of my favorite breeds, they tend to be barkers and are not particularly warm and fuzzy.
In response to another comment. See in context »Barkers, yes. Not warm and fuzzy? Am I going to have to IP ban you?
In response to another comment. See in context »