Perception of biologically meaningful sounds by dogs

Abstract

Dogs were trained to classify sounds into two categories on the basis of the nature of the sound source. The categories were dog sounds and nondog sounds—specifically, barks, whines, whimpers, growls, and pants versus various mechanical sounds, and mammalian, avian, and amphibian vocalizations. Once the dogs learned to classify 32 different sounds, they were given tests of their ability to classify 96 novel sounds into the same two categories. The results indicate that that the animals did indeed classify the sounds on the basis of their source (i.e., dog versus nondog) rather than on differences in the physical properties of the sounds themselves (e.g., frequency, intensity, timbre). This result shows that dogs, like humans, find the classification of sounds quite easy, providing the sounds are biologically relevant to them. [Supported by grant HD 02528 to the Bureau of Child Research, University of Kansas.]