The Social Dog: Behavior and Cognition

Dogs have become the subject of increasing scientific study over the past two decades, chiefly due to their development of specialized social skills, seemingly a result of selection pressures during domestication to help them adapt to the human environment. The Social Dog: Behaviour and Cognition includes chapters from leading researchers in the fields of social cognition and behavior, vocalization, evolution, and more, focusing on topics including dog-dog and dog-human interaction, bonding with humans, social behavior and learning, and more.

Dogs are being studied in comparative cognitive sciences as well as genetics, ethology, and many more areas. As the number of published studies increases, this book aims to give the reader an overview of the state of the art on dog research, with an emphasis on social behavior and socio-cognitive skills. It represents a valuable resource for students, veterinarians, dog specialists, or anyone who wants deeper knowledge of his or her canine companion.

Includes topics on dog-dog as well as dog-human interactions

Features contributions from leading experts in the field, which examine current studies while highlighting the potential for future research

1. Introduction: Why dogs
Juliane Kaminski and Sarah Marshall-Pescini
2. Social cognition: The dog-wolf comparison.
Friederike Range and Zsofi Viranyi
3. The social organization of a population of free-ranging dogs in a suburban area of Rome: A reassessment of the effects of domestication on dogs’ behavior
Roberto Bonanni and Simona Cafazzo
4. Social behavior among companion dogs with an emphasis on play
Barbara Smuts
5. Auditory communication in domestic dogs: Vocal signalling in the extended social environment of a companion animal
Anna Magdalena Taylor, Victoria Frances Ratcliffe, Karen McComb, David Reby
6. The immaterial cord: The dog-human attachment bond
Emanuela Prato Previde and Paola Valsecchi
7. The personality of dogs
Ádám Miklósi, Borbála Turcsán, Enikő Kubinyi
8. When the bond goes wrong: Problem behaviours in the social context
Daniel Mills, Emile van der Zee, and Helen Zulch
9. Social learning in dogs
Péter Pongrácz
10. What dogs understand about humans
Juliane Bräuer
11. Dogs’ sensitivity to human ostensive cues: A unique adaptation?
Topál József, Kis Anna, Oláh Katalin
12. Do dogs show an optimistic or pessimistic attitude to life? A review of studies using the ‘cognitive bias’ paradigm
Oliver Burman
13. Wagging to the right or to the left: Lateralization and what it tells of the dog’s social brain
Marcello Siniscalchi and Angelo Quaranta