Dogs Care More About the Texture of Something Than the Shape, New Study Finds

Pups and humans have a surprising amount in common when it comes to cognition (our brainwaves literally sync when we stare into each other’s eyes, for one), but for the most part, what’s going on in those puppy heads is still a mystery. In a new study, researchers found a unique quirk in canine perception. Unlike humans, when identifying objects, dogs prioritize texture over shape.

In humans, the meaning of words is most significantly linked to the shape of an object. In a 1988 study, researchers found that when humans connect a name to a new object, “they generalize the meaning of the new name to objects that are similar in shape, but not to objects that are similar in size or texture,” Claudia Fugazza, the new study’s lead author, summarized. For example, children naturally learn to associate the word “cat” with a cat’s shape rather than the cat’s fur, and this allows them to group different types of cats into one category. The phenomenon is called “shape bias.”

To explore whether or not dogs exhibit shape bias, scientists trained 25 dogs to retrieve a specific object out of a larger set of distractors. The dogs learned to associate the target object with the name “Dax.”

The various objects were crafted out of foam to resemble cylinders, triangles, or rectangles. They were then covered in different textured materials: velcro, duct tape, or uncovered foam. Color, weight, and volume were identical.

After the pups were trained to discriminate the desired object, they were given a test. In four trials, they were provided two objects: one with the same shape as the object they had learned to retrieve, and one with the same texture as the object they had learned to retrieve.

They found that when choosing between the two objects, dogs often approached the object with a similar shape first. However, after making contact with the objects, they ultimately retrieved the object that matched in texture. “This suggests a reliance on visual cues for initial assessment and tactile cues for final discrimination,” Fugazza wrote.

That doesn’t mean that dogs don’t show shape bias at all — just that it isn’t the most important factor in their decision making. The researchers point out that if they had based their conclusion on which object the dogs approached rather than which one they retrieved, they would have concluded that dogs do show shape bias. “Dogs may show a shape bias that is reminiscent of that observed in human children only when using the visual modality, but not when all senses can be deployed to solve the task,” Fugazza wrote.

The study opens the door to understanding more about how dogs perceive the world. “Understanding how non-human animals generalize the properties of objects can provide insights into the evolutionary processes and cognitive mechanisms that influence this bias,” Fugazza wrote.

In the meantime, if your pup tears their favorite toy to shreds and you have the option to replace it with one that looks the same or feels the same, decide based on texture. Your pup will appreciate the effort.