Measures that are likely to increase sociability in dog puppies, such as appropriate socialisation, are considered important in preventing future fear or aggression related problems. However, the interplay between sociability and conflict behaviour has rarely been investigated. Moreover, while many studies have addressed aggression in domestic dogs, alternative, non-aggressive conflict resolution strategies have received less scientific attention. Here we tested 134 Border collie puppies, aged 40-50 days, in a personality test which included friendly interactions with an unfamiliar person, exposure to a novel object, and three brief restraint tests. Considering the latter to be mild 'conflict' situations, we analysed whether the puppies' behaviour in the restraint tests was related to their sociability or to their boldness towards the novel object. Strategies employed by the puppies during restraint tests included trying to interact socially with the experimenter, remaining passive, and attempting to move away. In line with findings from humans and goats, puppies scoring high on sociability were more likely to adopt an interactive conflict resolution strategy, while those with low sociability scores tended to react passively. In contrast, avoidance behaviours were unrelated to sociability, possibly reflecting inconsistency in the flight strategy in dogs. Boldness towards a novel object was not related to sociability or to puppies' reactions in restraint tests. This is one of the first studies to demonstrate a link between sociability and conflict resolution strategies in non-human animals.

中文翻译：

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冲突解决策略的选择与小狗的社交能力有关

可能增加幼犬社交能力的措施，例如适当的社交，被认为对预防未来的恐惧或攻击相关问题很重要。然而，很少有人研究社交性和冲突行为之间的相互作用。此外，虽然许多研究已经解决了家犬的攻击性问题，但替代的、非攻击性的冲突解决策略受到的科学关注较少。在这里，我们在性格测试中测试了 134 只 40-50 天的边境牧羊犬幼犬，其中包括与陌生人的友好互动、接触新事物和三个简短的约束测试。考虑到后者是温和的“冲突”情况，我们分析了小狗是否 约束测试中的行为与他们的社交能力或他们对新对象的大胆有关。幼犬在约束测试期间采用的策略包括尝试与实验者进行社交互动、保持被动和试图离开。与人类和山羊的研究结果一致，社交能力得分高的幼犬更有可能采用交互式冲突解决策略，而社交能力得分低的幼犬则倾向于被动反应。相比之下，回避行为与社交能力无关，可能反映了狗的飞行策略不一致。对新事物的大胆程度与社交能力或幼犬在约束测试中的反应无关。