It is widely believed that dogs need to engage in play with other dogs in order to maintain proper socialization as they grow older. In truth, however, merely sharing the same physical space with another dog is sufficient to maintain proper socialization. Supporting evidence to this effect comes from a study demonstrating that the more often a dog shares a physical space with another dog, the better its socialization

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the influence of the evidence cited?

A. As dogs age, it is necessary to challenge their physical and mental capacities in order to avoid the deterioration of these capacities.
B. Many behavioral reasons that negatively impact a dog’s proper socialization also increase the likelihood that a dog is not sharing physical space with another dog.
C. Many dogs are capable of both play and simply sharing space with other dogs.
D. The study itself did not observe dog socialization, but analyzed observations on the issue from other studies.
E. The metrics for evaluating socialization that the study measured more resembled play than simply sharing physical space.



OA B

Source: Princeton Review