If your dog destroys the furniture when you are away, it could be a pessimist, researchers have concluded。
A study has found that some dogs are natural gloom-mongers while others have sunnier dispositions。
"We know that people's emotional states affect their judgments andthat happy people are more likely to judge an ambiguous situationpositively," said professor Mike Mendl, an author of the study and headof animal welfare and behavior at Bristol University。
"What our study has shown is that this applies similarly to dogs."
To measure canine psychology, researchers trained dogs to recognizethat bowls on one side of a room contained food, while bowls on theother side were empty. They then placed the bowls in "neutral" locationsbetween the two sides。
Just as happy people tend to see the positive in any situation, sooptimistic dogs sprinted toward the bowl, expecting to find food, whilepessimistic dogs hesitated or ran more slowly。
The study, published in Current Biology, which looked at 24 dogs attwo UK animal centers, found that dogs' temperaments correlated withtheir behavior when separated from their owners。
Dogs that saw the bowl as half-full were calmer when left alone,sure their owners would return, while pessimistic dogs were more likelyto worry, bark and misbehave。
About half of the 10 million dogs in the United Kingdom show "separation-related behavior" at some point, Mendl said。
Instead of getting rid of anxious dogs or ignoring them, ownersshould recognize that their dogs may have emotional issues and seektreatment for them, he said。
最新研究显示，如果你的爱犬趁你不在时破坏家具，那它可能是一条悲观的狗。
研究表明，有些狗天生就有“忧郁范儿”，另外一些则是“乐天派”。
研究报告的作者之一、布里斯托尔大学动物康乐和行为系主任迈克?门德尔教授说：“我们都知道情绪会影响人的判断，快乐的人更有可能在前景不明朗时朝积极的方向去想。”
“我们的研究表明，这个规律也适用于狗。”
为了把握狗的心理，研究人员通过训练使狗明白放在房屋一侧的碗里有食物，另一侧的碗却是空的。随后，他们把碗放在了房屋中间的“中立区”。
就像乐观者总会朝好处想一样，乐观的狗会飞快地跑到碗边，希望能找到食物，而悲观的狗却犹豫不前，或者慢吞吞地挪过去。
研究表明，当主人不在身边时，狗的行为就会受其性情的影响。这项研究对英国两家动物中心的24只狗进行了观察，研究成果在《当代生物》上发表。
看到碗“半满”的狗独处时表现得更为冷静，肯定主人会回来，而悲观的狗更容易焦虑，狂吠，行为失常。
据门德尔称，在英国一千万只狗中，大约有一半都会在某些时候表现出“分离焦虑”。
他还说，狗主人不应该抛弃那些焦虑的狗，或者对它们不理不睬，而应该意识到他们的狗可能有情绪问题，并寻求治疗。
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