Early Experience and the Development of Behavior

Abstract

Reprinted from The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behaviour and Interactions with People, ed. J.A. Serpell, 80-102, Cambridge University Press. It is generally assumed in the literature on both human and nonhuman social development that early (infantile) experiences are more important in terms of their effect on later (adult) behaviour than those occurring at other stages of the life cycle (see Levine, 1962; Simmel & Baker, 1980; Bateson, 1981). During the last 50 years, studies of the domestic dog have played a major part in reinforcing this assumption. In 1945 an extensive programme of research was initiated at the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory at Bar Harbor, Maine, into the relationship between heredity and social behaviour in dogs. This work, which included detailed descriptive and experimental studies of behavioural ontogeny, led to the conclusion that there are particular periods in early development when puppies are unusually sensitive to environmental influences and, therefore, especially vulnerable to permanent psychological damage (see Scott & Marston, 1950; Freedman, King & Elliot, 1961; Elliot & Scott, 1961; Scott, 1962; Scott, 1963; Scott & Fuller, 1965; Fuller, 1967; Scott, Stewart & DeGhett, 1974). In this chapter we review the evidence linking adult behaviour and temperament with the effects of early experience in dogs, particularly with regard to the development of so-called behaviour problems.