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.