Pinelli, ClaudiaScandurra, AnnaDi Lucrezia, AlfredoAria, MassimoSemin, Gün R.D'ANIELLO, BIAGIO2022-12-262022-12-262022Pinelli, C., Scandurra, A., Di Lucrezia, A., D, A. B., Aria, M., & Semin, G. R. (2022). Puppies in the problem-solving paradigm: quick males and social females. Animal Cognition. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-022-01714-514359448http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/8882We report an observational, double-blind study that examined puppies’ behaviors while engaged in solving an experimental food retrieval task (food retrieval task instrument: FRTI). The experimental setting included passive social distractors (i.e., the dog’s owner and a stranger). The focus was on how the social and physical environment shapes puppies’ behaviors according to sex. The dependent variables were the number of tasks solved on an apparatus (Performance Index) and the time required to solve the frst task (Speed). Sex and Stress were set as explanatory factors, and Social Interest, FRTI interactions, other behavior, and age as covariates. The main fndings were that male puppies solved the frst task faster than females. On the other hand, females displayed signifcantly more social interest and did so more rapidly than males. Males showed delayed task resolution. This study demonstrates sex diferences in a problem-solving task in dog puppies for the frst time, thus highlighting that sexually dimorphic behavioral diferences in problem-solving strategies develop early on during ontogenesis.engAnimal cognitionDogsProblem-solvingPuppiesSex diferencesjournal article10.1007/s10071-022-01714-5