Are Dogs Social Generalists? Canine Social Cognition,Attachment,and the Dog-Human Bond

Abstract

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.

Keywords

dog social behavior cognition individual variability attachment

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ainsworth

M. D. S.

Bell

S. M.

(1970). (See References). Provides more detail on the original Strange Situation Test methodology.

Clavel

Julliard

Devictor

(2011). (See References). A review article proposing that generalist species may be replacing specialists in some environments, with implications for biodiversity.

Coppinger

(2016). What is a dog? Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Explores the origins, biology, behavioral ecology, and social behavior of dogs around the world, the majority of which live very different lives from our pets.

Rehn

McGowan

R. T. S.

Keeling

L. J.

(2013). (See References). Addresses the strengths and limitations of attachment-style methodologies used to study dog-human relationships and provides more complete coverage of the existing literature in this area.

Udell

M. A. R.

Dorey

N. R.

Wynne

C. D. L.

(2010b). (See References). A more detailed review of the interacting effects of domestication and socialization on the development of dogs’ social cognition.

Ainsworth

M. D. S.

Bell

S. M.

(1970). Attachment, exploration, and separation: Illustrated by the behavior of one-year-olds in a strange situation. Child Development, 41, 49–67.

Barrera

Jakovcevic

Mustaca

Bentosela

(2012). Learning interspecific communicative responses in Pampas foxes (Lycalopex gymnocercus). Behavioural Processes, 89, 44–51. doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2011.10.013

Bentosela

Wynne

C. D. L.

D’Orazio

Elgier

Udell

M. A. R.

(2016). Sociability and gazing toward humans in dogs and wolves: Simple behaviors with broad implications. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 105, 68–75. doi:10.1002/jeab.191

Bowlby

(1973). Attachment and loss: Vol. 2. Separation: Anxiety and anger. New York, NY: Basic Books.

10.

Clavel

Julliard

Devictor

(2011). Worldwide decline of specialist species: Toward a global functional homogenization? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 9, 222–228. doi:10.1890/080216

11.

Coppinger

(2001). Dogs: A startling new understanding of canine origin, behavior & evolution (1st ed.). New York, NY: Scribner.

12.

D’Aniello

Scandurra

(2016). Ontogenetic effects on gazing behaviour: A case study of kennel dogs (Labrador Retrievers) in the impossible task paradigm. Animal Cognition, 19, 565–570. doi:10.1007/s10071-016-0958-5

13.

Dorey

N. R.

Udell

M. A. R.

Wynne

C. D. L.

(2010). When do domestic dogs, Canis familiaris, start to understand human pointing? The role of ontogeny in the development of interspecies communication. Animal Behaviour, 79, 37–41. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.09.032

14.

Gácsi

Kara

Belenyi

Topál

Miklósi

. (2009). The effect of development and individual differences in pointing comprehension of dogs. Animal Cognition, 12, 471–479. doi:10.1007/s10071-008-0208-6

15.

Gácsi

Topál

Miklósi

Á.

Dóka

Csányi

(2001). Attachment behavior of adult dogs (Canis familiaris) living at rescue centers: Forming new bonds. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 115, 423–431.

16.

Gaultier

Bonnafous

Bougrat

Lafont

Pageat

(2005). Comparison of the efficacy of a synthetic dog-appeasing pheromone with clomipramine for the treatment of separation-related disorders in dogs. The Veterinary Record, 156, 533–538.

17.

Goodwin

Bradshaw

J. W. S.

Wickens

S. M.

(1997). Paedomorphosis affects agonistic visual signals of domestic dogs. Animal Behaviour, 53, 297–304. doi:10.1006/anbe.1996.0370

18.

Harlow

H. F.

(1958). The nature of love. American Psychologist, 13, 573–685.

19.

Helton

W. S.

Helton

N. D.

(2010). Physical size matters in the domestic dog’s (Canis lupus familiaris) ability to use human pointing cues. Behavioural Processes, 85, 77–79. doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2010.05.008

20.

Kubinyi

Virányi

Miklósi

. (2007). Comparative social cognition: From wolf and dog to humans. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 2, 26–46.

21.

Lazarowski

Dorman

D. C.

(2015). A comparison of pet and purpose-bred research dog (Canis familiaris) performance on human-guided object-choice tasks. Behavioural Processes, 110, 60–67. doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2014.09.021

22.

Lorenz

(1952). King Solomon’s ring. New York, NY: Thomas Y. Crowell.

23.

Lynne

Shaver

P. R.

Collins

N. L.

(1998). Attachment styles, emotion regulation, and adjustment in adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1380–1397. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1380

24.

Marshall-Pescini

Passalacqua

Barnard

Valsecchi

Prato-Previde

(2009). Agility and search and rescue training differently affects pet dogs’ behaviour in socio-cognitive tasks. Behavioural Processes, 81, 416–422. doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2009.03.015

25.

Marshall-Pescini

Valsecchi

Petak

Accorsi

P. A.

Previde

E. P.

(2008). Does training make you smarter? The effects of training on dogs’ performance (Canis familiaris) in a problem solving task. Behavioural Processes, 78, 449–454. doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2008.02.022

26.

Miklósi

Á.

Kubinyi

Topál

Gácsi

Virányi

Csányi

. (2003). A simple reason for a big difference: Wolves do not look back at humans, but dogs do. Current Biology, 13, 763–766. doi:10.1016/S0960-9822(03)00263-X

27.

Nagasawa

Mitsui

Ohtani

Ohta

Sakuma

. . . Kikusui

(2015). Oxytocin-gaze positive loop and the coevolution of human-dog bonds. Science, 348, 333–336. doi:10.1126/science.1261022

28.

Ortolani

Vernooij

Coppinger

(2009). Ethiopian village dogs: Behavioural responses to a stranger’s approach. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 119, 210–218. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2009.03.011

29.

Osthaus

Lea

S. E. G.

Slater

A. M.

(2003). Training influences problem-solving abilities in dogs (Canis lupus familiaris). In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of British Society of Animal Science, York (Vol. 103), 103.

30.

Paul

Majumder

S. S.

Nandi

A. K.

Bhadra

(2015). Selfish mothers indeed! Resource-dependent conflict over extended parental care in free-ranging dogs. Royal Society Open Science, 2(12), Article 150580. doi:10.1098/rsos.150580

31.

Pepperberg

I. M.

(2004). “Insightful” string-pulling in Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) is affected by vocal competence. Animal Cognition, 7, 263–266. doi:10.1007/s10071-004-0218-y

32.

Price

E. O.

(1984). Behavioral aspects of animal domestication. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 59, 1–32.

33.

Rehn

McGowan

R. T. S.

Keeling

L. J.

(2013). Evaluating the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) to assess the bond between dogs and humans. PLoS ONE, 8(2), e56938. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056938

34.

de Ruiter

van IJzendoorn

M. H.

Wetenschappen

I. P

. (1993). Attachment and cognition: A review of the literature. International Journal of Educational Research, 19, 525–540.

35.

Schaffer

H. R.

Emerson

P. E.

(1964). The development of social attachments in infancy. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 29(3), 1–77. doi:10.2307/1165727

36.

Smith

B. P.

Litchfield

C. A.

(2009). Dingoes (Canis dingo) can use human social cues to locate hidden food. Animal Cognition, 13, 367–376.

37.

Topál

Miklósi

Csányi

Dóka

(1998). Attachment behavior in dogs (Canis familiaris): A new application of Ainsworth’s (1969) Strange Situation Test. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 112, 219–229.

38.

Udell

M. A. R.

(2015). When dogs look back: Inhibition of independent problem-solving behaviour in domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) compared with wolves (Canis lupus). Biology Letters, 11(9), Article 20150489. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2015.0489

39.

Udell

M. A. R.

Dorey

N. R.

Wynne

C. D. L.

(2008). Wolves outperform dogs in following human social cues. Animal Behaviour, 76, 1767–1773. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.07.028

40.

Udell

M. A. R.

Dorey

N. R.

Wynne

C. D. L.

(2010a). The performance of stray dogs (Canis familiaris) living in a shelter on human-guided object-choice tasks. Animal Behaviour, 79, 717–725. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.12.027

41.

Udell

M. A. R.

Dorey

N. R.

Wynne

C. D. L.

(2010b). What did domestication do to dogs? A new account of dogs’ sensitivity to human actions. Biological Reviews, 85, 327–345. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185X.2009.00104.x

42.

Udell

M. A. R.

Ewald

Dorey

N. R.

Wynne

C. D. L.

(2014). Exploring breed differences in dogs (Canis familiaris): Does exaggeration or inhibition of predatory response predict performance on human-guided tasks? Animal Behaviour, 89, 99–105. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.12.012

43.

Udell

M. A. R.

Spencer

Dorey

N. R.

Wynne

C. D. L.

(2012). Human-socialized wolves follow diverse human gestures… and they may not be alone. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 25(2), 97–117.

44.

Udell

Hall

N. J.

Morrison

Dorey

N. R.

Wynne

C. D. L.

(2013). Point topography and within-session learning are important predictors of pet dogs’ (Canis lupus familiaris) performance on human guided tasks. Revista Argentina de Ciencias del Comportamiento, 5(2), 3–20.

45.

Waters

(1978). The reliability and stability of individual differences in infant-mother attachment. Child Development, 49, 483–494. doi:10.2307/1128714