Dogs are often considered perfect life companions, especially for children. Indeed, the presence of these furry friends has a positive influence on the development of young people.
And now researchers from the United States have found that dogs are an important source of behavioral and social learning for toddlers.
A research team led by Dr Rachna Reddy, a postdoctoral fellow in evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, has been investigating how children interact with dogs. Of particular interest was the propensity of toddlers to grab out-of-reach items belonging to their four-legged friends, as evidenced by numerous videos on the internet.
To do this, from 2015 to 2020, they conducted several experiments with 100 children – 51 girls and 46 boys – aged 20 to 47 months, and three dogs described as particularly “friendly”. Most of the toddlers in the study did not have pets at home.
The scientists found that infants gave dogs toys and treats that were out of reach 50% of the time when the canines tried to grab them themselves.
In contrast, they gave them toys and treats half as often when the animals did not seem to show any interest in the items.
In addition, Reddy and colleagues found that toddlers were more likely to help dogs if they lived with one of them on a daily basis, if the animal was lively, and if the object was a treat rather than a toy.
These findings, published in the journal “Human-Animal Interactions”, show that infants appear to understand a dog’s needs, even though they do not communicate in the same way.
“From several perspectives, children’s proclivities to attribute desires and goals to pet dogs during real-life, in-person interactions is unsurprising,” Reddy said.
“We observed that, as early as two years of age, children behave in ways showing they are not only able to read the goal-directed behaviour of another animal, but can and do employ that knowledge to help an animal reach its own goal.
“In addition to informing us about childhood helping, these early child behaviours may have important evolutionary significance.”
Scientists say more work is needed to understand the psychological mechanisms that drive toddlers to help dogs. But one thing is certain: the presence of a pet motivates a child to want to interact with it, which promotes motor, cognitive and prosocial development.
Indeed, research shows that pets facilitate interactions with other humans, both adults and children. In 2020, for example, researchers at the University of Western Australia found that preschoolers growing up with a dog in the home were 30% less likely to have behavioral problems.
All the more reason to get a furry friend for your young one!