Abstract: We examined how social context and experience affected development of antipredator behaviour and subsequent postrelease survival in the black-tailed prairie dog. Captive-reared juveniles were initially exposed to four stimulus animals: a ferret, a rattlesnake, a hawk and a cottontail control (pretraining tests). Subjects were then trained with or without an adult female demonstrator. Training involved exposure to each stimulus animal two to three times over 5 weeks. After training, each juvenile was retested with each stimulus animal (post-training tests). During pretraining tests, juveniles responded differentially to the stimulus animals. They were least active with the snake, fled the most in tests with the hawk, and were less vigilant with the ferret than with the snake. Following training, juveniles trained with experienced adults were more wary with all three predators than juveniles trained without an experienced adult present. We then compared the antipredator behaviour of captive-reared juveniles trained with experienced adult females with that of wild-reared juveniles of the same age. For all behavioural measures except shelter use, wild-experienced animals differentiated more strongly among predator types than did captive-trained juveniles. One year after reintroduction, survivorship of juveniles trained with experienced adults was higher than that of juveniles trained without experienced adults, but did not differ from that of wild-reared juveniles. These findings provide the first evidence that social transmission of antipredator behaviour during training can enhance long-term survival following release and that as long as a social training regime is used, predator avoidance training can emulate experience acquired in the wild.

Abstract: Equilibria and kinetics of alkaline isomerization of seven ferricytochromes c from vertebrates were studied by pH-titration and pH-jump methods in the pH region of 7-12. In the equilibrium behavior, no significant difference was detected among the cytochromes c, whereas marked differences in the kinetic behavior were observed. According to the kinetic behavior of the isomerization, the cytochromes c examined fall into three classes: Group I (horse, sheep, dog and pigeon cytochromes c), Group II (tuna and bonito cytochromes c) and Group III (rhesus monkey cytochrome c). The kinetic results are interpreted in terms of the sequential scheme: Neutral form in equilibrium with fast Transient form in equilibrium with slow Alkaline form where the neutral and alkaline forms are the species stable at neutral and alkaline pH, respectively, and the transient form is a kinetic intermediate. From comparison of the primary sequences of the seven cytochromes c and the classification of these cytochromes c, it is concluded that the amino acid substitution Phe/Tyr at the 46-th position has a major influence on the kinetic behavior. In Group II and III cytochromes c, the ionization of Tyr-46 is suggested to bring about loosening of the heme crevice and thus facilitate the ligand replacement involved in the isomerization.

Abstract: Traditionally, dogs have been trained by operant conditioning techniques; that is, dogs make a desired behavioural response and this response is reinforced by a reward such as food. This type of training is very effective in training dogs to perform basic obedience behaviours (e.g. `stay'). However, dogs are social animals and should be predisposed to learn from social stimuli. In the present study, we used a modified version of the model-rival technique that has been extensively used in experiments investigating the cognitive ability of parrots. In this technique, social stimuli are used to create in the animal an interest in the object without the use of food or other rewards. Therefore, the animal learns the name of the object (intrinsic reward) and not that the object's name means food. In this experiment we compared the learning ability of nine pet dogs to solve the same retrieval-selection task having been previously trained using operant conditioning or model-rival techniques. The retrieval-selection task was the dogs had to correctly select the commanded object to bring to the experimenter from a group of three similar objects. The results show no difference in the speeds with which the dogs solved the test--demonstrating the efficacy of the model-rival method. This is the first time that the effectiveness of the model-rival technique has been experimentally demonstrated with dogs. Furthermore, we believe that the methodology reported in this paper has applications in dog training and in experiments into dog cognition.

Abstract: Aging pets often suffer a decline in cognitive function (eg, memory,learning, perception, awareness) likely associated with age-dependent brain alterations. Clinically, cognitive dysfunction may result in various behavioral signs, including disorientation; forgetting of previously learned behaviors, such as house training; alterations in the manner in which the pet interacts with people or other pets;onset of new fears and anxiety; decreased recognition of people, places, or pets; and other signs of deteriorating memory and learning ability. Many medical problems, including other forms of brain pathologic conditions, can contribute to these signs. The practitioner must first determine the cause of the behavioral signs and then determine an appropriate course of treatment, bearing in mind the constraints of the aging process. A diagnosis of cognitive dysfunction syndrome is made once other medical and behavioral causes are ruled out.