Can Dogs Communicate Effectively to Humans? Compared to Other Domesticated Animals, Canines Cooperate the Best

Puppies have powerful gestures, such as pounces and wiggles, to attract humans. Even at 8-weeks old, canines are expressive to their owners.

Dog's ability to move around and bounce itself as it was of communication is not just a mere cuteness. The expressive movements are actually a genetic advantage of dogs in the domestication age, even against the human-raised wolves. The engagement and interpreting skills of canines are imprinted naturally on their traits, even if they don't have enough exposure to humans.

Dogs Express Themselves Better than Human-Raised Wolves

(Photo: sergio souza from Pexels)

According to the study published in the journal Current Biology entitled "Dogs tune in to people in ways even human-raised wolves don't," the dog's ability to impress and communicate with people is caused by the molding and reworking of their brain throughout ages of domestication.

Based on the research, dog puppies that have controlled contact with humans were 30 times likely to approach a stranger, and have 5 times of chances to approach a familiar individual. Arizona State University's behavioral scientist Clive Wyvenne, who was not involved in the study, expressed their gladness towards the development exhibited by domesticated dogs. The study compared these results with the examination from human-raised wolves.

Duke University's evolutionary anthropologist and dog cognition expert Hannah Salomons said that the wolf pups express lesser interest in humans compared to dogs. Salomons said that the wolf pups were just shy, running and hidings as they entered the wolf pen for the first time. Their examination was not a failure, but the wolf pups are just not entertained by people, ignoring them as the experiment was proceeding reports Earth.com News.

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Wolf Puppies vs. Retriever Puppies

However, past findings show that dogs are drawn to humans much more than we anticipated. Dogs respond more willingly to humans, following commands and hand gestures. The ability seems simple but in the animal kingdom, it's not a widely seen skill. Chimpanzees, for instance, for whom humans share 99% of their DNA, don't exhibit the same willingness to follow. At the same time, human babies don't know how to execute the skill until they reach the age of one.

Scientists, to this day, aren't sure whether the skill is second nature to the dog because of its endearment to humans, or is it a by-product of 14,000 years of domestication.

To get to know more, Salomons and her colleagues showered wolf puppies with attention, while restricting human access to dog puppies. Days after their birth, 37 wolf puppies were showered the whole day with attention. Caregivers slept amid the pile of wolf pups outdoors, while 44 retriever puppies stayed with the dam and littermates until reaching 8 weeks, with only brief and limited visits from the caregivers.

The experiment revealed that although wolves and dogs had nearly the same level of self-control and memory when it came to human communications tasks, dogs far surpassed wolves. Dogs were seen to follow a pointed finger as a clue twice more than wolves. The retrievers also made twice as much eye contact with the caregivers, meeting human gaze for four-second bursts compared to the wolf puppies that only lasted an average of 1.47 seconds ScienceNews reports.