Your dog, your bestie: It’s in the genes

Dogs are a man’s best friend — the saying is iconic, and many would agree that it’s absolutely spot-on! And now, a new research gives an explanation as to why this is true. Dogs share certain genetic similarities with people who are born with a developmental disorder sometimes called the “opposite of autism,” which makes them hyper-social, researchers have said.

A report in the journal, Science Advances, pinpoints changes in two genes that are related to extreme social behaviour in dogs, and also in people who are born with Williams-Beuren Syndrome.

People with this condition tend to be highly outgoing, gregarious, empathetic, interested in prolonged eye contact, prone to anxiety and may have mild to moderate learning disabilities and intellectual impairment.

The findings offer new insights into how dogs were domesticated and split paths from their wolf ancestors thousands of years ago.

“It was once thought that during domestication, dogs had evolved an advanced form of social cognition that wolves lacked,” said co-author and animal scientist at Oregon State University, Monique Udell. “This new evidence would suggest that dogs instead have a genetic condition that can lead to an exaggerated motivation to seek social contact compared to wolves.”

Researchers studied 18 domesticated dogs and 10 captive gray wolves to see how social they were toward people and how they performed on problem-solving tasks. Given the task of lifting a puzzle box lid to get a sausage treat, the canines were rated on how much they turned to a human in the room for help.

The wolves were more likely to figure out how to get the treat than dogs. The dogs were more likely to stare longingly at the nearby people. “Where the real difference seems to lie is the dog’s persistent gazing at people and a desire to seek prolonged proximity to people, past the point where you expect an adult animal to engage in this behavior,” said Udell.

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