A new study has found that some puppies are born with an innate ability to understand human cues. Researchers discovered that after just eight weeks, some puppies were able to take command cues from humans even though they had no prior training.
The study used 375 puppies that were bred to be service dogs. They were Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, or a mix of both breeds. In one experiment, a researcher sat between two cups. They would call out to the puppy and point to a cup, which contained a treat. Some of the puppies responded to the gesture and ran straight to the cup.
In another experiment, instead of pointing to a cup, the researchers used a yellow block. When they put the yellow block next to the cup, the dog ran over and knocked over the cup to get the treat hidden underneath it.
Overall, 67% of the puppies ran to the correct cup.
"From a young age, dogs are displaying human-like social skills," the lead study author, Emily Bray, a postdoctoral researcher at the Canine Cognition Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson and a researcher at Canine Companions in Santa Rosa, California, said according to NBC News. "Puppies, even before they have a lot of experience with people, can reciprocate [the] human gaze and can use information from humans in a social context, like pointing as a cue to find hidden food."
The researchers went even further and tried to determine why some of the puppies were responding to the social cues while others were not. After doing a genetic analysis, they determined that "over 40% of the variation in dogs' point-following abilities and attention to human faces was attributable to genetic factors."
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