20.500.12556/RUL-166547 Dog–owner relationship and its association with social cognition in french bulldogs Our understanding of social cognition in brachycephalic dog breeds is limited. This study focused specifically on French Bulldogs and hypothesized that a closer relationship between dog and owner would improve the dogs’ understanding of nonverbal cues, particularly pointing gestures. To investigate this, we tested twenty-six dogs and their owners in a two-way object choice test in which the familiar person pointed to the bowl. As understanding of pointing gestures is influenced by human–animal interaction, we used the Monash Dog Owner Relationship Scale (MDORS) to assess various aspects of the dog–owner relationship, including dog–owner interaction, emotional closeness, and negative aspects of dog ownership and measured salivary oxytocin levels. This study examined the dogs’ correct choices and their straight approach patterns to a reward bowl. Several factors influenced the two measures of social cognition, such as the age and sex of the dog, dog–owner interaction, emotional closeness, and the choice time (time it took the dog to reach the reward bowl), but also that neutered dogs and those with no training history showed better cognitive performance. We found a very high number of correct choices, which could be attributed to the owners’ high scores on the dog–owner interaction scale. Oxytocin showed no direct effect on these measures. To increase the generalizability of the results, we suggest future studies focus on more than one breed to capture the temporal development of the owner–dog relationship and social cognitive abilities. French Bulldogs brachycephalic dogs cognition MDORS two-way object choice test pointing gestures psi pasme francoski buldog obnašanje živali socialno obnašanje lastniki psov komunikacija true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2025-01-17 10:22:58 2025-01-17 10:22:58 2025-01-18 04:09:05 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 15 str. iss. 1, art. 17 Vol. 15 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno apc 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 636.7:591.5 2076-2615 10.3390/ani15010017 221981955 RAZ_Peterca_Lara_2025.pdf RAZ_Peterca_Lara_2025.pdf 1 4ED060A130E47E52BA21F4C3B4646179 b2858f47c78011fdd8f61e52853bf4a5af4260c2a2801c005df8d5d39f149856 aee52e48-d4b4-11ef-b232-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=198230 https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15/1/17 1 ec608e63-d4b3-11ef-b232-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=198228 Biotehniška fakulteta 0 0 0