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The study found that dogs can be pessimistic and could change the animal welfare field

Is your dog a bowl half-empty kind of guy?


Tuesday, September 23, 2014, 10:00 AM - A new study from the University of Sydney took a closer look at dogs' personalities and found that some of man's best friend don't always have a positive outlook on life.

The experiment had dogs pick different targets after hearing one of two sounds to get different rewards. Touching one target gave them milk while the other only offered water. Once they were capable of correctly recognizing the sounds, new tones were introduced that fell somewhere between the ones the animals had become comfortable with.


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Some dogs continued touching the "milk" target, hoping they would get the savory reward. Other dogs—which the scientists labelled "pessimistic"— gave it a try for milk but upon realizing the answer wasn't right, sadly settled for water for the rest of the tones.

Scientists were able to determine that the results varied widely depending on the dog which suggests that there is something intrinsic about each animal that leads them to make positive or negative choices.

The study is of vital importance to those working in the animal welfare field. Often the focus is on making sure animals avoid pain and suffering, but this new understanding could improve a dogs' life by shifting the focus toward positive and pleasurable activities that cater to their personality.

Information of this kind could also help determine which dogs are the right ones for companionship, assistance roles, security and detection.

Similar experiments have been conducted on primates, cats, rats and others.

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