Investigating the role of human posture in approachability towards humans shown by the Indian free-ranging dog (Canis lupus familiaris)

Lahiri, Aesha (2023) Investigating the role of human posture in approachability towards humans shown by the Indian free-ranging dog (Canis lupus familiaris). Masters thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata.

Text (MS dissertation of Aesha Lahiri (18MS149)) Thesis_18MS149.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (2MB)

Abstract

In certain instances, the delicate balance between the dogs that abound the streets and humans is lost due to antagonistic behaviour between owing to either threatening social cues from humans or just the nature of the dogs. This may be reduced by studying the behavioural intricacies between humans and dogs. Presenting an unfamiliar person as affiliative rather than antagonistic may lead to the least number of aggressive reactions from them in successfully approaching free-ranging dogs resulting in less human-dog conflicts in the urban ecosystems. Finding the causes of this will make it easier for rescuers and animal health professionals to interact with free-ranging dogs and will serve as a basis for future companion dog study. In previous studies on free-ranging dogs’ reaction to friendly versus threatening gestures there has been no such prescription given as to which combination of postures and gestures may help pave the easiest path in increasing approachability to an unfamiliar human. This can also provide an insight into interspecific interactions between these dogs and humans, and be a guide to familiarizing with anxious dogs over time. In this study, we used three different basic postures either in combination with a gesture or in a standalone manner, which are commonly used by humans as affiliative social communicative cues in day-to-day interaction with free-ranging dogs. The cues were similar in terms of intensity and were overall either positive or simply neutral to control for the other factors. We predicted that there will be an increase in approachability in the free-ranging dogs when the humans face is closer to their eye level and the human exhibits a friendly gesture with their hand outstretched.

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