Early-Emerging and Highly-Heritable Sensitivity to Human Communication in Dogs

Dogs exhibit similarities to humans in their sensitivity to cooperative-communicative cues, but the extent to which they are biologically prepared for communication with humans is heavily debated. To investigate the developmental and genetic origins of these traits, we tested 375 eight-week-old dog puppies on a battery of social-cognitive measures. We hypothesized that if dogs’ social skills for cooperating with humans are biologically prepared, then these skills should emerge robustly in early development, not require extensive socialization or learning, and exhibit heritable variation. Puppies were highly skillful at using diverse human gestures and we found no evidence of learning across test trials, suggesting that they possess these skills prior to their first exposure to these cues. Critically, over 40% of the variation in dogs’ point-following abilities and attention to human faces was attributable to genetic factors. Our results suggest that these social skills in dogs emerge early in development and are under strong genetic control. Highlights - Genetic factors account for nearly half of variation in dog social skills - Puppies displayed social skills and interest in human faces from 8 weeks old - Puppies successfully used human gestures from the very first trial