About us
Péter Pongrácz, PhD
Dr. Péter Pongrácz is the principal investigator behind this project.
Dr. Pongrácz is an associate professor at the Department of Ethology. Among his main research interests currently we can mention:
- Social cognition in dogs and cats
- The factors behind and associated to problematic behaviours (separation anxiety, aggression) in dogs
- Vocal communication of dogs
- Self-representation in dogs
Although Dr. Pongrácz joined to the Family Dog Project at the Department of Ethology in 1999, he also has a wider interest in animal behaviour. As a graduate student, he conducted research on fish larvae, to investigate their innate and learnt antipredator behaviour. Later, as a PhD candidate, he investigated the epigeny of discrimination between conspecifics and predators in rabbits. Since 2021, he serves as Editor in Chief at the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science.
Kata Vékony
I am a PhD candidate at the Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University. I find the research of dogs’ social organization exciting from an ecological perspective, as these famously social animals had to adapt to a completely unique, anthropogenic environment. The development of dog-dog and dog-owner relationships is also exciting from a practical point of view as more and more of us are sharing our lives with multiple dogs – I share mine with two.
Publications
- Pongrácz, P., Dobos, P., Prónik, F., Vékony, K., (2025). Done deal – cohabiting dominant and subordinate dogs differently rely on familiar demonstrators in a detour task. BMC Biology 23:125. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-025-02232-9
- Bakos, V., Vékony, K., Pongrácz, P., (2025). Hierarchy-dependent behaviour of dogs in the Strange Situation Test: high-ranking dogs show less stress and behave less friendly with a stranger in the presence of their owner. Animals 15, 1916. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15131916
- Vékony, K., Bakos, V., Pongrácz, P., (2024). Rank-Related Differences in Dogs’ Behaviours in Frustrating Situations. Animals 14, 3411. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14233411
- Vékony, K., Pongrácz, P., (2024). Many faces of dominance: the manifestation of cohabiting companion dogs’ rank in competitive and non‑competitive scenarios. Animal Cognition 27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-024-01842-0
- Vékony, K., Prónik, F., Pongrácz, P., (2022). Personalized dominance – a questionnaire-based analysis of the associations among personality traits and social rank of companion dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2022.105544
- Pongrácz, P., Rieger, G., Vékony, K., (2021). Grumpy dogs are smart learners—the association between dog–owner relationship and dogs’ performance in a social learning task. Animals 11. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11040961