GPS Tracking Vests Uncover Dog’s Social Network Hierarchy

Researchers use GPS tracking devices to discover the unique personalities and social networks of dogs.

The intent of the study conducted by Mate Nagy, a zoologist from the University of Oxford, was to find out if dogs have groups of social hierarchies and social networks similar to other animals, such as wolves. This has long since been a debated topic with those interested in animal psychology.

Not only is it interesting for researchers of animals who have a passion for studying dog behavior in particular, but for pet owners to know more about how dogs function with others.

Wolves are well known for traveling in packs, where they have social statuses, in that one or two wolves are ahead of the pack, while the others fall behind. By traveling in packs, they are more protected.

Now researchers want to know what happens where there is a small group of dogs gathering together, such as in a public location like a park, and if their behaviors are based on similar social behaviors.

Since previous studies and their data did not prove as much as she had hoped, Nagy decided to use GPS tracking. With a global positioning system (GPS) tracking device, data can be collected, including the dogs’ movements, speed, and behavior.

Nagy worked with researchers at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest to track six dogs: one mixed-breed dog and five Vizslas. They each were outfitted with a GPS device and were tracked during daily off-leash walks with their owner, Hedvig Balazs.

The GPS tracking and analysis method is the same one that was previously used to track pigeons in a flock. With the dogs, it looks at different behavioral patterns when they get together in groups.

After each walk was tracked, owner Balazs filled out a questionnaire about things like their responsiveness to training, aggression with other animals, how excited they got, if they were fearful, and any aggression toward humans while in the group. He noted when they would bark at a stranger, which dogs eats first, and which one had a tendency to win fights with other dogs.

One interesting piece of data was there was a dominant dog that also tended to have more influence on the other dogs. With the completed data, Nagy did find some correlation with social hierarchy of some of the dogs and they way they react while in groups. While it is not quite as complex as with wolf packs, she does want to continue researchers larger groups of dogs with different breeds and look more into their behaviors and patterns.

The full research is published in PLoS Computational Biology.

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