Human socialization influences point following behaviour of free-ranging dogs

Animals of different taxa can read and respond to various human communicative signals. Such a socio-cognitive mechanism facilitates animals to acquire information and helps them react in a context-dependent manner. Of particular interest are the socio-cognitive skills of dogs and their remarkable sensitivity to human social cues. Recent developments have highlighted human socialization as one of the critical factors enabling dogs to respond to human communicative cues. However, not all dog populations have the same degree of socialization; this raises the question of whether “less” socialized dogs can read and use information from human cues. Free-ranging dogs are arguably the least socialized dog population, found primarily in developing countries. Unlike pets, free-ranging dogs engage in complex and multidimensional relationships with humans, which directly or indirectly impact their survival. In order to avoid potential adversities, contextual recognition of human actions is of param..., , , # Human socialization influences point following behaviour of free-ranging dogs [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3bk3j9kjm](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.3bk3j9kjm) ## Description of the data and file structure Dog ID - individual ID of the dog tested Sex - Male (M), Female (F) Point following yes (1), no (0) Latency - time for the first reaction in seconds wrong - deceptive cue followed correct- informative cue followed