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Synopsis In recent years there has been growing interest in uncovering evolutionary and lifetime factors that may contribute to the domestic dog’s (Canis lupus familiaris) success in anthropogenic environments. The readiness with which dogs form social attachments, their hyper-social focus, and social flexibility have all been areas of investigation. Prior research has demonstrated that many pet dogs form infant-caregiver type attachments toward human caretakers, even into adulthood. However, it is unknown if adult dogs form similar attachment bonds to other species, including cohabitant dogs, or if the dog–human relationship is unique in this respect. In the current study we used the Secure Base Test to evaluate behavioral indicators of stress reduction, proximity seeking and exploration, classifying dog–human and dog–dog dyads into attachment style categories. As in prior studies, we found that the majority of our dog–human dyads met the traditional criteria for infant–caregiver type attachment. However, the majority of dogs did not display this form of attachment toward cohabitant dog partners. Instead, behaviors observed in dog–dog relationships better matched attachment classifications described in human sibling attachment research. Overall, companion dogs were significantly less likely than human caretakers to elicit behaviors associated with attachment security in a focal dog. Dog–human attachment may play a distinct and important role in the success and resilience of adult dogs living in at least some anthropogenic environments. Bonds formed with other adult dogs, while important, likely serve a different function.

A recent study by Morrill et al. (2022) highlights important connections between genetics and behavior in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), while also contesting the idea that common breed stereotypes accurately predict individual dog behavior. These findings challenge scientists and dog professionals to deepen our understanding of dog behavior, moving past generalizations and toward approaches that better account for the behavior of individuals.

Research on dog social cognition has received widespread attention. However, the vast majority of this research has focused on dogs’ relationships and responsiveness towards adult humans. While little research has considered dog–child interactions from a cognitive perspective, how dogs perceive and socially engage with children is critical to fully understand their interspecific social cognition. In several recent studies, dogs have been shown to exhibit behavioral synchrony, often associated with increased affiliation and social responsiveness, with their adult owners. In the current study, we asked if family dogs would also exhibit behavioral synchrony with child family members. Our findings demonstrated that dogs engaged in all three measured components of behavioral synchrony with their child partner—activity synchrony (p

Clicker training has been a popular form of training for decades and is used in zoos, aquariums, and shelters. Only a handful of studies have investigated the efficacy of the clicker-training method itself despite its widespread popularity. In the first study, we used 30 shelter puppies, naive to training, that were split into three different groups: clicker + primary reinforcement, vocal praise + primary reinforcement, and primary reinforcement alone. Each puppy was then trained to perform a “stay” command using seven shaping approximation steps. Puppies had 50 trials to get as far as they could in the shaping plan. We found that puppies in the primary reinforcement–alone group significantly outperformed puppies in the clicker + primary reinforcement group (P = 0.004). A second experiment was conducted to see if the type of behavior trained would influence the efficacy of the clicker use. For the second experiment, we trained a wave, a behavior that required multiple topographical steps. We used 60 shelter puppies, naive to training, and split them into the same three groups (clicker + primary reinforcement, vocal praise + primary reinforcement, and primary reinforcement alone). No significant differences were found between conditions (P > 0.05) when training the wave behavior. These results suggest that different reinforcement strategies may be more or less effective depending on the type of behavior trained; however, we did not find evidence that the addition of a clicker or verbal cue enhanced training performance in either condition compared with using primary reinforcement alone. More research is needed to determine if clickers may have other benefits beyond basic training progression.

The ability of animals to communicate using gaze is a rich area of research. How domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) use and respond to the gaze of humans is an area of particular interest. This study examined how three groups of domestic dogs from different populations (free-ranging dogs, pet dogs, and shelter dogs) responded to a human during three attentional state conditions: when the human was making eye contact (attentive), when the human was turned away (inattentive), and when the human exited the testing area. We found that dogs from different populations differed in their gazing behaviour. Free-ranging dogs responded to the human's change in attentional state by looking significantly less at the human in the inattentive condition compared to the attentive condition. Pet and shelter dogs did not differ in their gazing behaviour between these conditions. However, they gazed significantly more at the human in both the inattentive and attentive conditions compared to the free-ranging dogs and also spent more time in the proximity of the experimenter. This study suggests that life experience plays an important role in how dogs respond to the attentional state of a human.

Research suggests that humans can form strong attachments to their pets, and at least some pets display attachment behaviors toward their human caretakers. In some cases, these bonds have been found to support or enhance the physical and emotional well-being of both species. Most human-animal interaction research to date has focused on adult owners, and therefore less is known about childhood pet attachment. However, there is growing evidence that pets may play an important role in the development and well-being of children, as well as adult family members. Research conducted to date suggests that child-pet relationships may be especially impactful for children who do not have stable or secure attachments to their human caretakers. However, given that human-animal interactions, including pet ownership, can also introduce some risks, there is considerable value in understanding the nature of child-pet attachments, including the potential benefits of these relationships, from a scientific perspective. The purpose of this review is to provide background and a brief overview of the research that has been conducted on childhood attachment to pets, as well as to identify areas where more research would be beneficial.

The rich history and global abundance of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) present a unique opportunity and an ideal model for interdisciplinary research. Canine evolutionary history demonstrates unprecedented changes across all levels of biological organization. These include diversification from highly social, pack-dwelling wild carnivores (extant gray wolves, C. lupus), to increased dependence on humans (domestication), to modern in-home colonization featuring close physical proximity to humans (interspecies bonding). The young, emerging field of “canine science” comprises diverse biological disciplines including evolution, genetics, cognition, behavior, physiology, comparative medicine, and ecology, drawing on studies of both natural and experimental systems and scaling across all levels of biological organization, from genomes to ecosystems. However, limited connections bridge the various fields associated with canine science, although in every branch it is recognized that this species is one of the most phenotypically variable mammals. Yet there has been growing interest in integrating the insights from genomic evolution with those from ecophysiology and ecology, thus facilitating a more biologically comprehensive perspective of dogs. In particular, integrative, mechanistic, and/or ecological studies have been generally underrepresented. To address these emerging interests, we have collected the most compelling questions in the field of canine biology and present avenues of current and future research. This paper serves to both orient the reader to this special issue, as well as offer a forward-looking perspective from diverse biological sub-disciplines to highlight current and future goals in canine research.

The capacity for dogs to form attachment bonds to humans has been recognized by scientists for over two decades. However, evaluations of dog-human attachment styles, including to what extent dogs experience attachment security with their human caregivers, are relatively new. In humans, the development of secure attachments is considered a predictor of social wellbeing and positive cognitive outcomes including future relationship success, persistence, mental wellbeing and executive functioning. A better understanding of dog-human attachment relationships could have important scientific and applied implications. Here we provide an overview of attachment research as it relates to the dog-human bond, and take a closer look at one experimental approach, the Secure Base Test (SBT), currently used to evaluate dog-human attachment styles.

Research on dog social cognition has received widespread attention. However, the vast majority of this research has focused on dogs' relationships and responsiveness towards adult humans. While little research has considered dog-child interactions from a cognitive perspective, how dogs perceive and socially engage with children is critical to fully understand their interspecific social cognition. In several recent studies, dogs have been shown to exhibit behavioral synchrony, often associated with increased affiliation and social responsiveness, with their adult owners. In the current study, we asked if family dogs would also exhibit behavioral synchrony with child family members. Our findings demonstrated that dogs engaged in all three measured components of behavioral synchrony with their child partner-activity synchrony (p 0.0001), proximity (p 0.0001), and orientation (p = 0.0026)-at levels greater than would be expected by chance. The finding that family dogs synchronize their behavior with that of child family members may shed light on how dogs perceive familiar children. Aspects of pet dog responsiveness to human actions previously reported in studies with adult humans appear to generalize to cohabitant children in at least some cases. However, some differences between our study outcomes and those reported in the dog-adult human literature were also observed. Given the prevalence of families with both children and dogs, and the growing popularity of child-focused animal-assisted interventions, knowledge about how dogs respond to the behavior of human children may also help inform and improve safe and successful dog-child interactions.

Pet and working dogs raised with humans are known to form attachments to their caregivers and other humans with whom they have a stable relationship. Attachment style varies across dog-human dyads, with securely attached dogs exhibiting the secure base effect, an ability to find comfort in the presence of an attachment figure in unusual situations, allowing for greater exploration. The secure base effect is also known to facilitate interactions with unfamiliar individuals. Dogs who engage in Animal Assisted Activities (AAA) are often asked to engage with unfamiliar people in unfamiliar environments, therefore it is possible that dogs with a secure attachment to their human handlers may be more prepared for success in this role. This study evaluated the behavior of 16 dogs who engage in AAA. Using a secure base test dogs were categorized as demonstrating secure (exhibiting the secure base effect with their owner/handler; n = 8) or insecure (not exhibiting the secure base effect; n = 8) attachment styles toward their handlers. Later the dyads participated in a mock animal assisted activity session to evaluate their working behavior. Our findings indicate that independent of attachment style, dogs who engage in AAA spent significantly more time in proximity to, and touching, the AAA participant than their handler (p

Two experiments were conducted to assess the influence of human attentional state, population, and human familiarity on domestic cat sociability. Sociability behaviors included duration of time in proximity and contact with the human and the frequency of meow vocalizations. Human attentional state influenced cat behavior, with cats spending significantly more time in proximity with the attentive human in both the pet (U(22) = 389, Z = -2.72, P = 0.007) and shelter groups (F(44) = 15.34, P = 0.0003). Cat population influenced sociability and shelter cats spent more time in proximity with the inattentive unfamiliar human as compared to pet cats (U(44) = 91, Z = 3.8, P = 0.0001) Additionally compared to pet cats, more individuals in the shelter cat group meowed at least once during the unfamiliar human inattentive phase (Fisher’s exact test, P = 0.02). Human familiarity did not significantly influence pet cat sociability behaviors. Overall, a wide range of sociability scores was seen, indicating individual variation is an important consideration in cat social behavior. Future research in this area will predict conditions under which strong cat-human bonds form and establish a more comprehensive scientific understanding of cat behavior.

This study entailed a qualitative content analysis of therapeutic factors in equine-facilitated group psychotherapy (EFGP) for women trauma survivors (n = 9). Our findings indicated that instillati...

The past 30 years have witnessed a continued and growing interest in the production and comprehension of manual pointing gestures in nonhuman animals. Captive primates with diverse rearing histories have shown evidence of both pointing production and comprehension, though there certainly are individual and species differences, as well as substantive critiques of how to interpret pointing or "pointing-like" gestures in animals. Early literature primarily addressed basic questions about whether captive apes point, understand pointing, and use the gesture in a way that communicates intent (declarative) rather than motivational states (imperative). Interest in these questions continues, but more recently there has been a dramatic increase in the number of articles examining pointing in a diverse array of species, with an especially large literature on canids. This proliferation of research on pointing and the diversification of species studied has brought new and exciting questions about the evolution of social cognition, and the effects of rearing history and domestication on pointing production and, more prolifically, comprehension. A review of this work is in order. In this article, we examine trends in the literature on pointing in nonhumans. Specifically, we examine publication frequencies of different study species from 1987 to 2016. We also review data on the form and function of pointing, and evidence either supporting or refuting the conclusion that various nonhuman species comprehend the meaning of pointing gestures. (PsycINFO Database Record

Past research has shown that many factors, including training history, informal experience and genetics, play a role in how certain populations of dogs behave during a problem-solving task. Less understood is how a dog’s relationship with an attending human, as well as the actions of the human during the task, may affect a dog’s independent problem solving behaviour. In the current study, two experiments were conducted to compare the performance and persistence of pet dogs and working dogs on a puzzle box task under a variety of conditions. In experiment one, search and rescue dogs and pet dogs were compared on the same independent task under three conditions: a neutral-human condition, an alone condition, and a human encouragement condition. No significant differences were found in the persistence of the pet dogs and search and rescue dogs (neutral-human, p = 0.4516; alone, p = 0.3722; encouragement, p = 0.8392); however search and rescue dogs solved the task more than pet dogs when encouraged to do so (p = 0.038). Pet dogs changed their behaviour depending on the human behaviour; pet dogs touched the object (p = 0.0098) more during the neutral-human condition compared to the alone condition. In addition, pet dogs gazed at the human (p = 0.0016) more during the encouragement condition. Search and rescue dogs did not show these differences in their behaviour: no differences were found across any of the conditions. In experiment two, we assessed the potential for testing-order effects by evaluating the problem solving behaviour of experimentally naive pet dogs under one of three conditions: a neutral human phase followed by human encouragement phase, human encouragement phase followed by a neutral human phase, and a neutral human phase followed by a second neutral human phase. No significant differences were found in the persistence of the dogs regardless of order of test, suggesting there were no order effects for this particular test. Our results suggest that factors such as human behaviour and training history may influence canine problem solving performance, however these effects may be limited in certain contexts.

The Secure Base Effect (SBE) refers to a human or non-human animal’s ability to use the presence of a bonded caretaker, or other familiar stimulus, as a source of comfort that facilitates stress reduction and exploration in novel or stressful contexts. Recent research has shown that some pet domestic cats (Felis catus) display SBE in the presence of their human owner, a finding that could be utilized to improve cat welfare. In applied settings, cat owners are often encouraged to leave behind items holding their scent when leaving their cat in a novel location (e.g. boarding facility), so that these items can be provided to the cat if they show signs of separation distress. Although this practice has not be studied scientifically in cats, scent objects have been found to produce SBE in human research under similar conditions. Olfaction is thought to play an important role in the social behavior of domesticated cats, even in early life, as exposure to nest scent has been found to reduce stress in kittens. Thus, the possibility that owner scent might be sufficient to elicit SBE in cats is an important empirical question with applied implications. In the current study we asked whether owner scent would reduce cat anxiety when in an unfamiliar environment, and to what extent this might be related to whether the cat showed evidence of using their owner as a Secure Base. Forty-two adult cats underwent a counterbalanced Secure Base Test that examined the cat’s behavior with the owner present, without the owner present, and with a scent object present. On average, cats displayed a lower frequency of stress-related behaviors when the owner was present, providing support for the presence of SBE. However, this effect was not seen when the cat was alone with the scent object. The results of this research can be used to deepen our understanding of feline social behavior and welfare. These findings also highlight the importance of using evidence based practices to address cat anxiety in applied settings.

This study aimed to characterize attachment relationships between humans and dogs living in animal shelters or foster homes, and to contextualize these relationships in the broader canine attachment literature. In this study, 21 pairs of foster dogs and foster volunteers and 31 pairs of shelter dogs and shelter volunteers participated. Each volunteer&ndash, dog dyad participated in a secure base test and a paired attachment test. All volunteers completed the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS), a survey designed to measure strength of attachment bonds as reported by humans. Although no significant differences were present in terms of proportions of insecure and secure attachments between foster and shelter populations, proportions in the shelter population were significantly lower (p &lt, 0.05) than the proportions of attachment styles that would be expected in a population of pet dogs based on the published literature on pet dog attachment styles. Additionally, findings are presented in relation to data from a paired attachment test that demonstrate foster and shelter dogs spend more time in proximity to humans when the human is actively attending to the dog and encouraging interaction, as would be expected based on previous studies. We also present findings related to the presence of disinhibited attachment (previously reported in children who spent a significant portion of time living in institutionalized settings) which is characterized by a lack of preferential proximity seeking with a familiar caregiver and excessive friendliness towards strangers in foster and shelter dogs.

Although millions of cats live among humans worldwide the scientific community knows relatively little about cat behavior and cognition. Olfaction is an important perceptual sense for many members of Carnivora, however the role of chemical signals in cat social relationships is not fully understood. Research indicates chemical signals play an important role in many areas of cat behavior including mother-offspring and conspecific interactions and exploration of their environment. Chemical cues appear to play a role in stress and anxiety reduction, allowing cats to feel secure in their environment. A better understanding of cat chemical signals, especially as it relates to within and between species communication, may lead to an increase in cat wellbeing as humans can utilize this knowledge in applied settings. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to investigate how cats process and use chemical signals in social contexts and identify ways this information can be applied to address cat behavioral issues, such as inappropriate litter box and scratching behavior, and improve cat welfare, including species-appropriate ways of reinforcing the human-cat bond.

Reports of variability in the social behavior of the domestic dog ( Canis lupus familiaris) are common across populations, breeds, and individuals. This has often been considered a challenge for characterizing the nature and origins of the domestic dog’s social cognition. Here, we propose that this variability might be explained by social plasticity, a trait that could contribute to the success of the domestic dog and facilitate the dog-human bond. Additional research specifically aimed at investigating population and individual variation in canine social behavior, such as attachment-style research, may provide important insight into domestic dogs’ biological success, as well as knowledge that could benefit both dogs and humans in a wide range of applied settings.

Aggression is a serious behavioral disorder in domestic dogs that endangers both dogs and humans. The underlying causes of canine aggression are poorly resolved and require illumination to ensure effective therapy. Recent research links the compositional diversity of the gut microbiome to behavioral and psychological regulation in other mammals, such as mice and humans. Given these observations, we hypothesized that the composition of the canine gut microbiome could associate with aggression. We analyzed fecal microbiome samples collected from a small population of pit bull type dogs seized from a dogfighting organization. This population included twenty-one dogs that displayed conspecific aggressive behaviors and ten that did not. Beta-diversity analyses support an association between gut microbiome structure and dog aggression. Additionally, we used a phylogenetic approach to resolve specific clades of gut bacteria that stratify aggressive and non-aggressive dogs, including clades within Lactobacillus, Dorea, Blautia, Turicibacter, and Bacteroides. Several of these taxa have been implicated in modulating mammalian behavior as well as gastrointestinal disease states. Although sample size limits this study, our findings indicate that gut microorganisms are linked to dog aggression and point to an aggression-associated physiological state that interacts with the gut microbiome. These results also indicate that the gut microbiome may be useful for diagnosing aggressive behaviors prior to their manifestation and potentially discerning cryptic etiologies of aggression.

In canines, transposon dynamics have been associated with a hyper-social behavioral syndrome, although the functional mechanism has yet to be described. We investigate the epigenetic and transcriptional consequences of these behavior-associated mobile element insertions (MEIs) in dogs and Yellowstone gray wolves. We posit that the transposons themselves may not be the causative feature; rather, their transcriptional regulation may exert the functional impact. We survey four outlier transposons associated with hyper-sociability, with the expectation that they are targeted for epigenetic silencing. We predict hyper-methylation of MEIs, suggestive that the epigenetic silencing of and not the MEIs themselves may be driving dysregulation of nearby genes. We found that transposon-derived sequences are significantly hyper-methylated, regardless of their copy number or species. Further, we have assessed transcriptome sequence data and found evidence that MEIs impact the expression levels of six genes (WBSCR17, LIMK1, GTF2I, WBSCR27, BAZ1B, and BCL7B), all of which have known roles in human Williams–Beuren syndrome due to changes in copy number, typically hemizygosity. Although further evidence is needed, our results suggest that a few insertions alter local expression at multiple genes, likely through a cis-regulatory mechanism that excludes proximal methylation.

Worldwide, domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) outnumber domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). Despite cats' success in human environments, dog social cognition has received considerably more scientific attention over the last several decades [1-3]. A key aspect of what has been said to make dogs unique is their proclivity for forming attachment bonds, including secure attachments to humans [1,3], which could provide scaffolding for the development of human-like socio-cognitive abilities and contribute to success in human environments [3]. Cats, like dogs, can be found living in social groups or solitarily, depending on early developmental factors, resource distribution, and lifetime experiences such as human interaction [1,2,4]. Despite fewer studies, research suggests we may be underestimating cats' socio-cognitive abilities [2]. Here we report evidence, using behavioral criteria established in the human infant literature [5,6], that cats display distinct attachment styles toward human caregivers. Evidence that cats share social traits once attributed to dogs and humans alone would suggest that broader non-canine-specific mechanisms may be needed to explain cross-species attachment and socio-cognitive abilities.

Sociability, defined as the tendency to approach and interact with unfamiliar people, has been found to modulate some communicative responses in domestic dogs, including gaze behavior toward the human face. The objective of this study was to compare sociability and gaze behavior in pet domestic dogs and in human-socialized captive wolves in order to identify the relative influence of domestication and learning in the development of the dog-human bond. In Experiment 1, we assessed the approach behavior and social tendencies of dogs and wolves to a familiar and an unfamiliar person. In Experiment 2, we compared the animal's duration of gaze toward a person's face in the presence of food, which the animals could see but not access. Dogs showed higher levels of interspecific sociability than wolves in all conditions, including those where attention was unavailable. In addition, dogs gazed longer at the person's face than wolves in the presence of out-of-reach food. The potential contributions of domestication, associative learning, and experiences during ontogeny to prosocial behavior toward humans are discussed.

The hormone oxytocin plays an important role in attachment formation and bonding between humans and domestic dogs. Recent research has led to increased interest in potential applications for intranasal oxytocin to aid with the treatment of psychological disorders in humans. While a few studies have explored the effects of intranasally administered oxytocin on social cognition and social bonding in dogs, alternative applications have not yet been explored for the treatment of behavioural problems in this species. One potentially important application for intranasal oxytocin in dogs could be the treatment of separation anxiety, a common attachment disorder in dogs. Here we provide an overview of what is known about the role of oxytocin in the human-dog bond and canine separation anxiety, and discuss considerations for future research looking to integrate oxytocin into behavioural treatment based on recent findings from both the human and dog literature.

The domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus) has shared an intertwined existence with humans for thousands of years, living on our city streets and in our homes. Yet, little scientific research has focused on the cognition of the domestic cat, especially in comparison with human's other companion, the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris). This review surveys the current status of several areas of cat cognition research including perception, object permanence, memory, physical causality, quantity and time discrimination, cats' sensitivity to human cues, vocal recognition and communication, attachment bonds, personality, and cognitive health. Although interest in cat cognition is growing, we still have a long way to go until we have an inclusive body of research on the subject. Therefore, this review also identifies areas where future research must be conducted. In addition to the scientific value of future work in this area, future research on cat cognition could have an important influence on the management and welfare of pet and free-roaming cats, leading to improved human-cat interactions.

We hypothesize that selection during dog domestication targeted CNVs associated with hypersociability., Although considerable progress has been made in understanding the genetic basis of morphologic traits (for example, body size and coat color) in dogs and wolves, the genetic basis of their behavioral divergence is poorly understood. An integrative approach using both behavioral and genetic data is required to understand the molecular underpinnings of the various behavioral characteristics associated with domestication. We analyze a 5-Mb genomic region on chromosome 6 previously found to be under positive selection in domestic dog breeds. Deletion of this region in humans is linked to Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS), a multisystem congenital disorder characterized by hypersocial behavior. We associate quantitative data on behavioral phenotypes symptomatic of WBS in humans with structural changes in the WBS locus in dogs. We find that hypersociability, a central feature of WBS, is also a core element of domestication that distinguishes dogs from wolves. We provide evidence that structural variants in GTF2I and GTF2IRD1, genes previously implicated in the behavioral phenotype of patients with WBS and contained within the WBS locus, contribute to extreme sociability in dogs. This finding suggests that there are commonalities in the genetic architecture of WBS and canine tameness and that directional selection may have targeted a unique set of linked behavioral genes of large phenotypic effect, allowing for rapid behavioral divergence of dogs and wolves, facilitating coexistence with humans.

In recent years, domestic dogs have been recognized for their ability to utilize human communicative gestures in choice tasks, as well as communicate with humans through visual and auditory means. A few dogs have even demonstrated the capacity to learn hundreds to thousands of human words and object labels with extensive training. However less is known about dogs‟ understanding or perception of human vocalizations in the absence of explicit training. This study was conducted to determine what aspects of human scolding vocalizations dogs would be most responsive to when presented with a choice to consume or avoid available food items. Variables included the gender, authenticity, word clarity and the human quality of the vocal commands. Our results suggest that dogs are generally cautious about novel sounds produced in the proximity of food. However they are most likely to avoid consumption when hearing a vocalization originally produced by a scolding human, suggesting awareness of vocal qualities common to human speech.

Domestic dogs', Canis familiaris, responsiveness to human action has been a topic of scientific interest for almost two decades. However, are all breeds of domestic dog equally prepared to succeed on human-guided object-choice tasks? In the current study we compared three breeds of dog with distinct predatory motor pattern sequences still under direct selection pressure today based on their traditional working roles. Airedale terriers (hunting dogs) are bred for a fully intact predatory sequence, matching the wild-type form. Border collies (herding dogs) are bred for an exaggeration of the eye-stalk-chase component of the predatory sequence. Anatolian shepherds (livestock-guarding dogs) are bred for the inhibition of the full predatory sequence. Here we asked whether and how these opposing selection pressures correspond with each breed's tendency to track and follow a human point to a target in an object-choice task. Our results suggest that the presence or exaggeration of key components of the predatory sequence may in fact predict superior initial performance on pointing tasks when compared to a breed selected for its inhibited predatory response. This is the first time relative success on a pointing task has been tied to a known heritable behavioural mechanism (breed-specific motor patterns). However, we also demonstrate that breed-specific differences can sometimes be overcome with additional experience. Thus, an individual's performance on human-guided tasks is still best predicted by a combination of genetic and lifetime factors. Broader implications for the understanding and investigation of canine social cognition are discussed.

Domestic dogs have become well known for their socio-cognitive successes, so what does it mean when domestic dogs fail to cooperate? A new study by Marshall-Pescini, Schwarz, Kostelnik, Viranyi, and Range (PNAS, 114(44) 11793-11798, 2017) highlights the importance of considering socioecological context, learning, and relationship quality when evaluating the social cognition of dogs and wolves.

Domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) engage in a variety of relationships with humans and can be conditioned to engage in numerous behaviors using Pavlovian and operant methods Increasingly cat cognition research is providing evidence of their complex socio-cognitive and problem solving abilities. Nonetheless, it is still common belief that cats are not especially sociable or trainable. This disconnect may be due, in part, to a lack of knowledge of what stimuli cats prefer, and thus may be most motivated to work for. The current study investigated domestic cat preferences at the individual and population level using a free operant preference assessment. Adult cats from two populations (pet and shelter) were presented with three stimuli within each of the following four categories: human social interaction, food, toy, and scent. Proportion of time interacting with each stimulus was recorded. The single most-preferred stimulus from each of the four categories were simultaneously presented in a final session to determine each cat's most-preferred stimulus overall. Although there was clear individual variability in cat preference, social interaction with humans was the most-preferred stimulus category for the majority of cats, followed by food. This was true for cats in both the pet and shelter population. Future research can examine the use of preferred stimuli as enrichment in applied settings and assess individual cats' motivation to work for their most-preferred stimulus as a measure of reinforcer efficacy.

Past research has suggested that a variety of factors, phylogenetic and ontogenetic, play a role in how canines behave during problem-solving tasks and the degree to which the presence of a human influences their problem-solving behaviour. While comparisons between socialized wolves and domestic dogs have commonly been used to tease apart these predictive factors, in many cases a single dog population, often pets, have been used for these comparisons. Less is understood about how different populations of dogs may behave when compared with wolves, or with each other, during an independent problem-solving task. This experiment compared the independent persistence of four populations of canines (two groups of pet domestic dogs, a group of free-ranging domestic dogs, and human-socialized wolves) on an independent problem-solving task in the presence of an on looking human. Results showed that wolves persisted the most at the task while free-ranging dogs persisted the least. Free-ranging dogs gazed at the human experimenter for the longest durations during the task. While further research is needed to understand why these differences exist, this study demonstrates that dogs, even those living outside human homes as scavengers, show comparatively low levels of persistence when confronted with a solvable task in the presence of a human as well as significantly greater duration of human-directed gaze when compared with wolves.

Domestic dogs' (Canis lupus familiaris) socio-cognitive faculties have made them highly sensitive to human social cues. While dogs often excel at understanding human communicative gestures, they perform comparatively poorly in problem-solving and physical reasoning tasks. This difference in their behaviour could be due to the lifestyle and intense socialization, where problem solving and physical cognition are less important than social cognition. Free-ranging dogs live in human-dominated environments, not under human supervision and are less socialized. Being scavengers, they often encounter challenges where problem solving is required in order to get access to food. We tested Indian street dogs in familiar and unfamiliar independent solvable tasks and quantified their persistence and dependence on a novel human experimenter, in addition to their success in solving a task. Our results indicate that free-ranging dogs succeeded and persisted more in the familiar task as compared to the unfamiliar one. They showed negligible amount of human dependence in the familiar task, but showed prolonged gazing and considerable begging behaviour to the human experimenter in the context of the unfamiliar task. Cognitive abilities of free-ranging dogs thus play a pivotal role in determining task-associated behaviours based on familiarity. In addition to that, these dogs inherently tend to socialize with and depend on humans, even if they are strangers. Our results also illustrate free-ranging dogs' low competence at physical cognitive tasks.

Behavioral problems in dogs account for nearly half of the reasons given for relinquishing them to shelters, and thus constitute a significant animal welfare issue. Any successful attempt to manage these problems will require an understanding of the mechanisms that control these behaviors. However, for some of the behavioral problems cited, such as jumping up on people, available treatments are not prescribed after a systematic assessment of the environmental contingencies contributing to the behavior. The current study assesses the use of functional analysis, an established technique for identifying the variables controlling problem behavior in humans, to determine the environmental factors supporting the behavior of jumping up on people in dogs. Statistically significant differences were found in the rate of jumping up behavior across conditions for each dog in the assessment phase. Treatment conditions used the maintaining variable found in the assessment phase. By comparing the rates of jumping up behavior in these conditions, we found the rates to be of lower statistical significance in the treatment condition. Therefore, results show that this methodology is effective in determining the maintaining variables for these individuals, leading to a more precise treatment.

Udell, Dorey, and Wynne (2011) demonstrated that both domesticated and nondomesticated canids—specifically, gray wolves—have the capacity to succeed on perspective-taking tasks, suggesting that dogs’ ability to respond to the human attentional state is not a by-product of domestication alone. Furthermore, not all dogs were successful on the task. Instead, the occluder type used was a strong predictor of performance, indicating the important role of environment and experience for tasks of this type. Here, we address several commentaries reflecting on the methods and design of that study, as well as the interpretation of the results. We also discuss the positive shift toward more interactive approaches in the field of canine behavior and cognition. Finally, we question the functionality of describing canine social behavior in terms of theory of mind.