| Abstract: | Within the framework of rescarch on communication systems betweenthe child and his pet dog, an experimental situation was setup to study the characteristics and the functions of sniffingbehaviours: dogs living in a family with or without a childwere put in the presence of two dummies. These dummies weredressed in underclothes previously worn by a child known tothe dog, or by an unknown child, or clothes with no body odour.The dog’s behaviour was filmed for 5 min from the momentthe dog entered the experimental room. A statistical analysisof the results showed that the head, trunk, upper limbs andano-genital area were sniffed differently by the dogs accordingto the experimental situation. These results would suggest differentolfactory functions in the relational systems between humanbeings and dogs. |
