叛逆的青春期狗狗
一项新的研究发现，狗狗也不能幸免于青春期忧郁:狗狗在经历青春期时也会像最好的朋友——人类一样表现出来。
In a study published Wednesday in the journal Biology Letters, scientists from the UK’s University of Nottingham and Newcastle University present evidence that pups act out similarly to human teens when they are going through puberty. In the breeds researchers analyzed — Labradors, golden retrievers and crossbreeds of the two — these teen years generally occur when the canines are between six and nine months old.
英国诺丁汉大学和纽卡斯尔大学的科学家，在周三发表在《生物学快报》杂志上的一项研究中提出了证据，证明幼犬在青春期的行为与人类青少年相似。在研究人员分析的品种中——拉布拉多犬、金毛猎犬和这两种狗的杂交后代——证明青春期通常发生在狗狗6到9个月大的时候。
While in their pubescent months, researchers found that dogs were more likely to ignore commands from their caregivers — but not strangers — and were overall harder to train. Dogs who felt insecure about their relationship to their owner, authors found, exacerbated the behavior. In pups, this is characterized by increased anxiety and attention-seeking when separated from an owner. Insecure female dogs had an increased likelihood of reaching puberty earlier, the authors found.
研究人员发现，在它们青春期的几个月里，狗更容易忽视主人的指令，但不太可能忽视陌生人的指令，而且总体上更难训练。作者发现，那些对自己与主人的关系感到不安的狗，这种行为更加严重。在幼犬中，当与主人分开时，其特征是焦虑和注意力寻求增加。研究人员发现，缺乏安全感的母狗进入青春期的可能性更大。
“This is a very important time in a dog’s life,” explains lead author Dr. Lucy Asher in a press release.
“这是狗狗一生中非常重要的时刻。”首席作者露西·阿舍博士在新闻稿中解释道。
Owners should keep doggy puberty in mind before putting a pup in its adolescence up for adoption or going through the adoption process, the study adds.
该研究补充道，主人在将幼犬送人收养或通过收养程序之前，应将幼犬的青春期牢记于心。
“This is when dogs are often re-homed because they are no longer a cute little puppy and suddenly, their owners find they are more challenging and they can no longer control them or train them,” adds Asher. “But as with human teenage children, owners need to be aware that their dog is going through a phase and it will pass.”
阿舍博士补充道:“这段时间，狗狗们会像变了一样，它们不再是可爱的小狗了。突然之间，主人们发现它们变得更具挑战性，再也无法控制或训练它们了。”“但就像人类的青少年儿童一样，主人需要意识到他们的狗正在经历一个阶段，一切都会过去的。”
The authors acknowledge that their research, while groundbreaking, is considered common knowledge by some.
两位作者承认，他们的研究虽然具有开创性，但也被一些人视为常识。
“Many dog owners and professionals have long known or suspected that dog behavior can become more difficult when they go through puberty,” says co-author Dr. Naomi Harvey. “But until now there has been no empirical record of this. Our results show that the behavior changes seen in dogs closely parallel that of parent-child relationships, as dog-owner conflict is specific to the dog’s primary caregiver and just as with human teenagers, this is a passing phase.”
研究报告的撰写者之一纳奥米·哈维博士说:“很多养狗者和专业人士早就知道或怀疑，当他们进入青春期后，狗的行为会变得更加难以控制。”但到目前为止，还没有这方面的经验记录。我们的研究结果表明，狗狗的行为变化与亲子关系密切相关，因为狗主人的冲突只针对狗狗的主要看护者，就像人类青少年一样，这只是一个过渡阶段。”
And yelling at your pooch won’t make it pass faster, studies show, it just will ruin their fluffy lives.
研究表明，对你的狗狗大喊大叫不会让它跑得更快，只会毁掉它们毛茸茸的生活。
“It’s very important that owners don’t punish their dogs for disobedience or start to pull away from them emotionally at this time,” says Asher. “This would be likely to make any problem behavior worse, as it does in human teens.”
阿舍博士说：“非常重要的一点是，主人不要因此而惩罚它们，也不要在这个时候在情感上远离它们。这样做可能会使问题变得更糟，就像人类青少年那样。”
