Effects of the presence of a human on frustration in domestic dogs: Is there a social buffering phenomenon?

Abstract

Dogs and humans form close bonds, and the interaction between them produces numerous benefits. Among these, it has been observed in various situations that humans can reduce dogs' stress behaviors, generating a social buffering effect. Frustration induced by the omission of an expected reward has characteristics similar to stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the presence of the owner or a stranger attenuated the frustration response during the extinction of a previously reinforced behavior, comparing both groups with a third group where the dog remained alone. To this end, a task was used where dogs had to gaze at the experimenter’s face to obtain food that was visible but out of their reach. The results indicate that dogs showed more frustration responses when they did not receive food compared to the reinforced phases. Additionally, the presence of the owner reduced these frustration responses during the non-reinforced phases. In this group a greater persistence in gazing at the experimenter was also observed, showing a lower frustration response. These data suggest that the presence of the owner had a mitigating effect on frustration in response to the omission of reinforcement. Furthermore, the dogs gazed more at the experimenter in the presence of the owner than in the presence of a stranger, even during the reinforced phases, which could suggest a performance-facilitating effect during the task caused by the owner. These findings are relevant considering that the omission of an expected reward frequently occurs both in dog training and in their daily life.