Effects of rearing with specific stimuli upon postisolation behavior in dogs.

Abstract

Behavior of isolated and pet-reared dogs was compared using a new artificial language code for observational data (COFOD). The depression of social-and object-oriented behavior seen in isolated dogs was not ameliorated by providing experience with objects or with a companion puppy during isolation. Providing opportunity for visual observation of a laboratory room promoted earlier spontaneous emergence from a cage into an arena. The results are viewed as favorable to the idea that postisolation depression is due not to perceptual deficits induced by experiential deprivation, but to a blocking of approach and contactual responses by preemptive aversive reactions to unfamiliar stimuli.