Seminar
professor Raymond Coppinger

The Natural History of Canids, Evolution, Emotions, Intelligence and the Behaviour of Dogs

16-17 of April 2010, Royal Castle in Niepołomice, Poland

Sponsors:

Marka PRO PLAN

Ceva Animal Health

Miasto i Gmina Niepołomice

Professor Raymond Coppinger  majored in literature and philosophy at Boston University. His PhD thesis in biology (at the University of Massachusetts) is on the effect of experience and novelty on avian feeding behavior. He joined the founding faculty at Hampshire College in 1969, where he is professor emeritus of biology. He lectures around the world and organizes research on animal behavior, especially the behavior of canines. Ray’s first professional studies of dogs occurred on the runners of a dog sled. During a twelve-year mushing career, he progressed from a five-dog to a sixteen-dog team, won many races on the northeast (USA) circuits, and developed a new strain of fast, responsive sled dogs. Many of these went on to run in Alaskan championship races. His research projects with sled dogs include responses of racing dogs to the stress of heat retention, and the amounts of energy required to pull sled and driver. In 1976, Ray and his wife Lorna founded the Livestock Guarding Dog Project at Hampshire College. This long-term investigation into the behavior of a new kind of dog for farmers and ranchers in the United States has resulted in greater understanding of early developmental behavior of dogs, and how early experience (or lack of it) can affect adult behavior. For the past several years, Ray has turned his attention to assistance dogs. His first-hand knowledge of harnesses for dogs, the mechanics and physiology of pulling, and the relationship between experience, training and behavior give him a unique insight into the lives of the dogs which are being asked to enhance the lives of people with special needs. Ray (and his colleagues and students) have published over fifty papers on his dog research. His favorite publication, however, is the book Fishing Dogs, a humorous and iconoclastic look at dogs, fishermen and professors. His latest book, co-authored with Lorna Coppinger, is DOGS: A Startling New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior, and Evolution, published by Scribner, NY, in 2001. It has been translated into five languages. His lecture trips around the world to talk about dogs are always supplemented by a day or two searching local waters for the perfect fish.

Programme

The Natural History of Dogs

• Dogs exist in amazing numbers around the world.  Most of them are classified by the World Health Organization as Neighborhood Dogs.  These are dogs that are loosely attached to people and are in continuous contact within the greater population of dogs. That means that most dogs in the world form a continuous population that feeds, reproduces and maintains their own lifestyle reasonably independently of people.  Exploring the behavior of these village dogs gives us not only the dynamics of how dogs earn a living, but also suggests how they evolved and adapted to civilization.  It also provides an insight into dog behavior.

The Ethology of Dogs

• There are many ways to study dog behavior.  Ethology, sometimes called behavioral ecology and sometimes behavior genetics, is a biological approach to measuring behavior. Most people interested in dogs are interested in modifying their behavior.  Behaviorism is one method that is popular now.  Known as ‘click and treat’, the technique is used to teach tricks or a particular behavior.  In contrast, people who train pointers or sheepdogs or other hunting and working dogs rely on innate characteristics.  The exploration of these breed-typical behaviors is a job for an ethologist.

Cognition 1

• Are dogs intelligent? Do dogs have a ‘mind’? Are they conscious?  When a Border Collie herds sheep, is it conscious of what it is doing? If herding behavior is genetic, then there is little need for the dog to be conscious.  And how does the dog compare to other animals in characteristics such as self awareness and intentional behavior?  Can dogs form images of missing objects?  When one tells a dog to fetch a ball, does it form a mental image of that ball and can it generalize to other balls, or does it just remember the one and then searches for a familiar smell?

Cognition 2

• What is play? Is it linked to intelligence?

Are Dogs Emotional?

• Do dogs have emotions?  Are they like people’s emotions?  Most scientists think dogs express fear and alarm but don’t see how they can feel guilt or love.  For scientists it is important to be able to measure the quantity and quality of a behavior in order to demonstrate its effect.  I think there is a chance that a model could be constructed that demonstrates a rich array of emotions in animals like dogs.  It will depend on exploring how behavioral psychologists, neuro-psychologists, and ethologists define emotion.

Evolutionary Development

• Bringing learning, development and behavior into context is an evolutionary perspective often called in the very recent behavioral literature Evo-Devo.  Here we will have to learn some new terms for understanding the complexity of animal behavior. ‘Emergent behaviors’ are complex and simple at the same time, and we will explore the ways innate behaviors can evolve into intricate ways of moving through time and space. I will try to bring it all together.

Timetable :
Friday 16 of April
9.00 - 13.00 (with coffe break)
13.00 - 14.00 - lunch
14.00-18.00 (with tea break)
Saturday 17 of April
9.00 - 13.00 (with coffe break)
13.00 - 14.00 - lunch
14.00-18.00 (with tea break)

Seminar venue:
Lech Walesa Conference Centre in the Royal Castle in Niepolomice (see details). Niepolomice is a small town situated 25km from Krakow (see map)

Registration fees: 
Paid before March 15th 2010 - EUR 200
Paid after March 15th 2010 - EUR 230