Dog Breed Differences in Visual Communication with Humans

Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) have developed a close relationship with humans through the process of domestication. In human-dog interactions, eye contact is a key element of relationship initiation and maintenance. Previous studies have suggested that canine ability to produce human-directed com...

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Published inPloS one Vol. 11; no. 10; p. e0164760
Main Authors Konno, Akitsugu, Romero, Teresa, Inoue-Murayama, Miho, Saito, Atsuko, Hasegawa, Toshikazu
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Public Library of Science 13.10.2016
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects
Animal behavior
Animal human relations
Animal training
Animals
Behavior
Behavior, Animal - physiology
Biology and Life Sciences
Canidae
Canis familiaris
Canis lupus familiaris
Communication
Dogs
Domestic animals
Domestication
Earth Sciences
Eye
Female
Genetic aspects
Herding
Human performance
Humans
Hunting
Male
Visual communication
Visual tasks
Wolves
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Summary:Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) have developed a close relationship with humans through the process of domestication. In human-dog interactions, eye contact is a key element of relationship initiation and maintenance. Previous studies have suggested that canine ability to produce human-directed communicative signals is influenced by domestication history, from wolves to dogs, as well as by recent breed selection for particular working purposes. To test the genetic basis for such abilities in purebred dogs, we examined gazing behavior towards humans using two types of behavioral experiments: the 'visual contact task' and the 'unsolvable task'. A total of 125 dogs participated in the study. Based on the genetic relatedness among breeds subjects were classified into five breed groups: Ancient, Herding, Hunting, Retriever-Mastiff and Working). We found that it took longer time for Ancient breeds to make an eye-contact with humans, and that they gazed at humans for shorter periods of time than any other breed group in the unsolvable situation. Our findings suggest that spontaneous gaze behavior towards humans is associated with genetic similarity to wolves rather than with recent selective pressure to create particular working breeds.
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Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Conceptualization: AK TR MI-M AS TH. Formal analysis: AK. Funding acquisition: AK TR MI-M TH. Investigation: AK TR. Methodology: AK TR. Project administration: MI-M TH. Supervision: MI-M AS TH. Writing – original draft: AK TR.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0164760