Domestic Dogs

B. Smuts

Domestic Dogs

Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior, Editors-in-Chief:  Michael D. Breed and Janice Moore, Oxford, 2010, Pages 562–567

ABSTRACT

Dogs, the first domestic animals, evolved from East Asian wolves approximately 40 000–20 000 years ago. Dogs understand human body language, many spoken words, and even abstract symbols. Dogs pay attention to human face and eyes, and they often turn to humans to help solve problems. Dogs and humans form a mutual emotional bond that reduces stress in both species. Being around dogs improve human physical and mental well-being. Most dogs are very social and play with other dogs if they can. Stray and feral dogs are common on the edges of human society. They form social groups, and sometimes cooperate in territorial defense, much as wolves do.

Wolves outperform dogs in following human social cues

Monique A.R. Udell, Nicole R. Dorey, Clive D.L. Wynne

Wolves outperform dogs in following human social cues

Animal Behaviour, Volume 76, Issue 6, December 2008, Pages 1767–1773

Abstract

Domestic dogs, Canis familiaris, have been shown capable of finding hidden food by following pointing gestures made with different parts of the human body. However, previous studies have reported that hand-reared wolves, C. lupus, fail to locate hidden food in response to similar points in the absence of extensive training. The failure of wolves to perform this task has led to the proposal that the ability to understand others' intentions is a derived character in dogs, not present in the ancestral population (wolves). Here we show that wolves, given the right rearing environment and daily interaction with humans, can use momentary distal human pointing cues to find food without training, whereas dogs tested outdoors and dogs at an animal shelter do not follow the same human points. In line with past studies, pet dogs tested indoors were successful in following these points. We also show that the reported failure of wolves in some past studies may be due to differences in the testing environment. Our findings indicate that domestication is not a prerequisite for human-like social cognition in canids, and show the need for additional research on the role of rearing conditions and environmental factors in the development of higher-level cognitive abilities.

The performance of stray dogs (Canis familiaris) living in a shelter on human-guided object-choice tasks

Monique A.R. Udell, Nicole R. Dorey, Clive D.L. Wynne

The performance of stray dogs (Canis familiaris) living in a shelter on human-guided object-choice tasks

Animal Behaviour, Volume 79, Issue 3, March 2010, Pages 717–725

Abstract
A decade of research on domestic dogs' responsiveness to human actions has led some to believe that all members of the species Canis familiaris possess a human-like social cognition not shared by their nondomesticated relatives. However, comparative studies on diverse populations of domestic dog are lacking, making species-wide generalizations premature. In this study we present the performance of one under-represented population, stray dogs living in shelters, on a human-guided object-choice task. Unlike pet dogs, shelter dogs universally failed to follow a momentary distal point to a target location in initial tests, although they were able to follow a simpler form of human point on the same task. Furthermore, the majority of subjects learned to follow a momentary distal point to a target when given additional training trials (experiment 2). Dogs' sensitivity to human gestures may not be entirely explained by phylogenetic variables; rather, the interactions between genetic, developmental and experiential variables must be considered.