Fixed Players, Fluid Moves: Refining Strategy While Preserving Identity in Free-Ranging Dogs
Description
This dataset documents a repeated-measures behavioural experiment designed to assess the consistency of strategic behaviour in Indian free-ranging dogs when foraging under an unpalatable acidic condition. Each dog was presented with a 15 g piece of chicken treated with 20 mL of 25% lemon juice, and the same experimental condition was repeated across four consecutive trials for each dog. The dataset includes observations from 47 healthy adult dogs, with each dog completing all four trials. Each row represents a sequentially recorded behavioural event within a particular dog and trial, allowing the temporal sequence, duration, and strategic behavioural responses to be examined across repeated trials.
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Steps to reproduce
1. Select healthy adult free-ranging dogs and assign each individual a unique Dog ID. Exclude dogs showing extreme fear, anxiety, avoidance, or obvious signs of illness or injury. 2. Prepare the experimental stimulus using 20 mL of 25% lemon juice solution and one 15 g fresh boneless chicken piece in a biodegradable 150 mL bowl. Use fresh materials for each trial. 3. Place the bowl approximately 1–1.5 m in front of the focal dog on a relatively flat surface. 4. Start video recording before or at the time of bowl placement. The experimenter placing the bowl should move 1.5–2 m away from the focal dog and avoid eye contact or interaction. 5. Record each trial for a maximum of 90 s. Conduct four consecutive trials per dog, maintaining an inter-trial interval of minimum 60s. 6. Record the behavioural sequence from bowl placement until completion of eating or termination of engagement. Record the sequence, timing, duration, and type of each behavioural event, including sniffing, licking, eating, food manipulation, and strategic behaviours. 7. Record the time of first sniff, time of first lick, time of completion of eating, start and end times of individual behavioural events, total interaction time, and post-consumption behaviour. 8. Calculate behavioural durations from the recorded second and millisecond timestamps. Derive the interval from first sniff to complete consumption and other temporal measures from the recorded timestamps. 9. Quantify anthropogenic activity at each experimental site using three 1-min fixed-frame videos. Count individuals and vehicles crossing a predefined vertical reference line in each video and calculate the mean of the three counts to obtain the site-specific flux value. 10. Repeat the procedure across all four trials for each focal dog and compile the behavioural-event records with the corresponding Dog ID, trial number, video number, date, time, location, and environmental metadata.