The influence of human attitudes on canine behavior

Despite wolves being highly successful group-hunting predators, they were the first animals to be domesticated. This domestication of the wolf resulted in our best friends - dogs. Possibly reflecting this evolutionary history, human attitudes towards wolves and dogs tend to differ considerably (especially in the Western world) as reflected by stereotypes of the bad wolf vs. mans best friend. This perception however, might influence our own behavior towards wolves and dogs influencing in turn also the animals reactions towards us. Moreover, this perception also appears to influence our scientific discourse, where domestication hypotheses posit a shift in temperament from a more aggressive wolf to a gentler, friendlier dog. In this project, we will set out to examine how human attitudes might have shaped (and still shape) this domestication process and whether the stereotype of aggressive wolf and friendly dog applies to the two species. To elucidate human attitudes, we will use behavioral, neural and physiological measures to test whether lay people and researchers tend to fear wolves and love dogs, and how our attitudes are shaped by our exposure to and knowledge about the animals. We will further investigate if a persons attitude towards wolves and dogs affects his/her behavior towards them e.g. being more fearful or uncomfortable (even if unconsciously) when getting in contact with wolves compared to dogs might be reflected in a higher heart rate and thus elicits specific reactions from the animals in line with the humans attitudes (e.g. wolves do not want to be petted by a person who shows fear). In the animals, we will test the human-directed behavior of wolves and dogs raised and kept similarly at the Wolf Science Center in various test settings including conflict situations where a human is attempting to take resources away from the animals and situations where we test the sociability of the animals. Based on this multi-layered approach, we will get a better understanding of human-canine interaction, which will be of crucial relevance for theories of domestication and wildlife management. The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (F. Range & S. Marshall-Pescini) and University of Vienna (C. Lamm).