An experimental analysis of olfactory cues in child—dog interaction

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Abstract
Within the framework of rescarch on communication systems between the child and his pet dog, an experimental situation was set up to study the characteristics and the functions of sniffing behaviours: dogs living in a family with or without a child were put in the presence of two dummies. These dummies were dressed in underclothes previously worn by a child known to the dog, or by an unknown child, or clothes with no body odour. The dog’s behaviour was filmed for 5 min from the moment the dog entered the experimental room. A statistical analysis of the results showed that the head, trunk, upper limbs and ano-genital area were sniffed differently by the dogs according to the experimental situation. These results would suggest different olfactory functions in the relational systems between human beings and dogs.

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