Data from: Wolf-like or dog-like? A comparison of gazing behaviour across three dog breeds tested in their familiar environments

Human-directed gazing, a keystone in dog–human communication, has been suggested to derive from both domestication and breed selection. The influence of genetic similarity to wolves and selective pressures on human-directed gazing is still under debate. Here, we used the 'unsolvable task' to compare Czechoslovakian Wolfdogs (CWDs, a close-to-wolf breed), German Shepherd Dogs (GSDs) and Labrador Retrievers (LRs). In the 'solvable task', all dogs learned to obtain the reward; however, differently from GSDs and LRs, CWDs rarely gazed at humans. In the 'unsolvable task', CWDs gazed significantly less towards humans compared to LRs but not to GSDs. Although all dogs were similarly motivated to explore the apparatus, CWDs and GSDs spent a larger amount of time in manipulating it compared to LRs. A clear difference emerged in gazing at the experimenter versus owner. CWDs gazed preferentially towards the experimenter (the unfamiliar subject manipulating the food), GSDs towards their owners and LRs gazed at humans independently from their level of familiarity. In conclusion, it emerges that the artificial selection operated on CWDs produced a breed more similar to ancient breeds (more wolf-like due to a less-intense artificial selection) and not very human-oriented. The next step is to clarify GSDs' behaviour and better understand the genetic role of this breed in shaping CWDs' heterospecific behaviour.

指向人类的凝视（human-directed gazing）是犬类与人类交流的核心基石，被认为源自驯化与品种选育的双重作用。与狼的遗传相似性以及选择压力对指向人类的凝视行为的影响仍存在争议。本研究采用"不可完成任务"范式，对捷克斯洛伐克狼犬（Czechoslovakian Wolfdogs, CWDs，一种近狼犬种）、德国牧羊犬（German Shepherd Dogs, GSDs）以及拉布拉多寻回犬（Labrador Retrievers, LRs）进行了比较。在"可完成任务"中，所有犬只均学会了获取奖励；但与德国牧羊犬和拉布拉多寻回犬不同，捷克斯洛伐克狼犬极少看向人类。在"不可完成任务"中，相较于拉布拉多寻回犬，捷克斯洛伐克狼犬看向人类的频率显著更低，但与德国牧羊犬无显著差异。尽管所有犬只探索实验装置的动机水平相近，但相较于拉布拉多寻回犬，捷克斯洛伐克狼犬与德国牧羊犬花费了更多时间操作该装置。在看向实验者还是主人的偏好上呈现出清晰差异：捷克斯洛伐克狼犬优先看向实验者（即负责操作食物的陌生受试者），德国牧羊犬倾向于看向自己的主人，而拉布拉多寻回犬看向人类则不受熟悉程度的影响。综上可见，针对捷克斯洛伐克狼犬的人工选育使其更接近古老犬种（因人工选育强度较低而更具狼性），且对人类的依赖性较弱。未来研究需进一步阐明德国牧羊犬的行为模式，并深入理解该品种在塑造捷克斯洛伐克狼犬跨物种行为中的遗传作用。