The communicative relationship between human and dog. Understanding the relationship between domestic dogs and humans from a biological point of view.

Abstract

Domestic dogs appear to be ‘special’ canid species in terms of social communication with humans. However, the communicative relationship between domestic dogs and humans seems to be skewed. Domestic dogs appear to understand more about human communicative cues than humans understand about dog communicative signals and misunderstandings do arise frequently. From a biological point of view, the relationship with humans began with self domestication of the dog and multiple domestication events have occurred. In terms of benefits, this relationship is more obvious for humans.