Factors Influencing Learning Task Failure in the Domestic Dog (Canis lupus familiaris)

Dog cognition research often requires dogs to meet initial screening criteria and complete preliminary behavioural tasks to proceed with subsequent experimental task phases. Reasons for the excluded dogs’ inability to meet the criteria, especially in the absence of major procedural errors, remain uncertain, whether stemming from cognitive differences, lack of motivation for rewards, or lack of specific experiences in dogs’ learning history. Our objective was to identify predictors of failure, shedding light on potential differences between the populations of dogs typically studied in cognitive research and the general dog population.
A total of 150 pure-bred dogs performed a hand-touch learning task with their owners. The task consisted of different phases, each necessitating the dog to fulfill specific criteria before progressing to the subsequent phase. Inability to meet the specified task criteria led to failure. Binomial logistic regression was used to evaluate the probability of failure, incorporating dogs’ characteristics, training history, reward responsiveness, and impulsivity scores, along with factors specifying owners’ previous experiences with dogs as independent variables.
Results indicated a higher likelihood of task failure associated with advancing age, lower food responsiveness scores, being a non-sporting dog, receiving non-food rewards in previous training, lack of familiarity with the hand-touch behaviour, along with the lack of dog training knowledge and a history of owning fewer dogs by the owner. Factors predicting task failure also varied between breed clades, with reward responsiveness being more influential in some clades, while training-related factors were more significant in others. This variation likely reflects breed-specific differences in learning profile and variations in responsiveness to external influences. Cognitive research may, therefore, be biased towards studying a certain group of dogs.