Abstract
Dogs’ attachment towards humans might be the core of their social skillset, yet the origins of their ability to build such a bond are still unclear. Here we show that adult, hand-reared wolves, similarly to dogs, form individualized relationship with their handler. During separation from their handler, wolves, much like family dogs, showed signs of higher-level stress and contact seeking behaviour, compared to when an unfamiliar person left them. They also used their handler as a secure base, suggesting that the ability to form interspecific social bonds could have been present already in the common ancestor of dogs and wolves. We propose that their capacity to form at least some features of attachment with humans may stem from the ability to form social bond with pack members. This might have been then re-directed to humans during early domestication, providing the basis for the evolution of other socio-cognitive abilities in dogs.
Highlights
Dogs’ attachment towards humans might be the core of their social skillset, yet the origins of their ability to build such a bond are still unclear
The term attachment is often restricted to describe the relationship between parents and their infants[1,2,3], the social bonds between romantic pairs or between the members of a social group like the family can be construed as forms of adult attachment where rather the perceived availability of the other individual matters[4,5]
Both wolves and dogs explored their vicinity significantly more if the H stayed with them (LMM of exploration: LRT: χ2(1) = 8.282; p = 0.004; H → U β ± SE = 0.728 ± 0.235; t(15) = 3.091; p = 0.007; Fig. 1D) suggesting that the H had a secure base effect, in her presence the individuals were calmer
Summary
Dogs’ attachment towards humans might be the core of their social skillset, yet the origins of their ability to build such a bond are still unclear. We show that adult, hand-reared wolves, to dogs, form individualized relationship with their handler During separation from their handler, wolves, much like family dogs, showed signs of higher-level stress and contact seeking behaviour, compared to when an unfamiliar person left them. They used their handler as a secure base, suggesting that the ability to form interspecific social bonds could have been present already in the common ancestor of dogs and wolves. We propose that their capacity to form at least some features of attachment with humans may stem from the ability to form social bond with pack members. Puppies form attachment towards their mothers, if the attachment towards the owner is formed yet it is unlikely that it stems from filial attachment towards the mother
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