Partner preferences and asymmetries in social play among domestic dog, Canis lupus familiaris, littermates
Section snippets
Subjects
We observed four litters of domestic dogs (three purebred litters and one mixed-breed litter; Table 1). All dams lived in ordinary households, and all puppies whelped naturally (no caesarean births) at home. The dams suckled the puppies and weaned them prior to placement in permanent homes. Breeders supplemented nursing with solid foods starting around 4 weeks of age. Puppies from litters 2–4 remained sexually intact for the duration of the study. With the exception of one male, all of the
Results
We analysed 7.10 h of dyadic play from four litters of puppies consisting of 39 dyads and 1200 total play bouts. The average number of play bouts per dyad () was 13.15 ± 5.13 bouts, and we coded an average of 5.22 ± 0.71 min of play per dyad across all litters and times combined.
Partner Preferences and Diversity
In time periods 1 and 2, puppies in all focal litters initiated play with most of the other individuals in their litter. However, as they matured, puppies in litter 1 concentrated on initiating play with a smaller subset of individuals. Their preferences for specific partners increased over time as diversity in partner choice decreased, and by time 3, each puppy had one strongly preferred play partner. PPP scores were consistent between early and late time periods for litter 1.
These results
Acknowledgments
We thank Monika Dressler, Lynne Coleman, Mary Westoff, Mara Markov and Pamela Fusco for allowing us to videotape their litters. We thank Kathy Welch for her statistical consultation, numerous undergraduate students for assistance with data collection and coding (especially Jane Na and Sarah Alessi) and Theresa Lee, Bobbi Low, Patricia McConnell and John Mitani for their reviews of the manuscript. This study was supported by funding from the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the
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2017, Applied Animal Behaviour ScienceCitation Excerpt :Play improves knowledge of unfamiliar individuals and could therefore reduce the need for agonistic interactions to establish their resource-holding potential. Juvenile dogs first indiscriminately initiate play towards their siblings, increasingly focusing on fewer individuals and resulting in a consistent preference of play partner as they reach 27–40 weeks of age (Ward et al., 2008). There is evidence that play improves knowledge of unfamiliar individuals in wolves.
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E. B. Bauer is at the Department of Animal Programs, Smithsonian National Zoological Park, NZP-Lion/Tiger MRC: 5507, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012, U.S.A.