Burkhard Megane E, Range Friederike, Ward Samantha J, Robinson Lauren M
Domestication Lab, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
School of Animal Rural and Environmental Sciences, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Front Psychol. 2023 Jan 4;13:1044940. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1044940. eCollection 2022.
To explore human-canid relationships, we tested similarly socialized and raised dogs () and wolves () and their trainers in a wildlife park. The aims of our study were twofold: first, we aimed to test which factors influenced the relationships that the trainers formed with the dogs or wolves and second, we investigated if the animals reacted to the trainers in accordance with the trainers' perceptions of their relationship.
To achieve these goals, we assessed the relationships using a human-animal bonds survey, which the trainers used to rate the bonds between themselves and their peers with the canids, and by observing dyadic trainer-canid social interactions.
Our preliminary results given the small sample size and the set-up of the research center, demonstrate that our survey was a valid way to measure these bonds since trainers seem to perceive and agree on the strength of their bonds with the animals and that of their fellow trainers. Moreover, the strength of the bond as perceived by the trainers was mainly predicted by whether or not the trainer was a hand-raiser of the specific animal, but not by whether or not the animal was a wolf or a dog. In the interaction test, we found that male animals and animals the trainers felt more bonded to, spent more time in proximity of and in contact with the trainers; there was no difference based on species.
These results support the hypothesis that wolves, similarly to dogs, can form close relationships with familiar humans when highly socialized (Canine Cooperation Hypothesis). Moreover, as in other studies, dogs showed more submissive behaviors than wolves and did so more with experienced than less experienced trainers. Our study suggests that humans and canines form differentiated bonds with each other that, if close, are independent of whether the animal is a wolf or dog.
为了探究人类与犬科动物的关系，我们在一个野生动物园中对饲养方式和社会化程度相似的狗（）和狼（）及其训练师进行了测试。我们研究的目的有两个：第一，我们旨在测试哪些因素影响了训练师与狗或狼建立的关系；第二，我们调查了动物对训练师的反应是否与训练师对他们关系的认知一致。
为了实现这些目标，我们使用了一项人兽关系调查来评估这种关系，训练师用该调查对自己与犬科动物同伴之间的关系进行评分，并通过观察训练师与犬科动物的二元社交互动来进行评估。
鉴于样本量较小以及研究中心的设置，我们的初步结果表明，我们的调查是衡量这些关系的有效方式，因为训练师似乎能够感知并认同他们与动物以及其他训练师之间关系的强度。此外，训练师所感知到的关系强度主要取决于训练师是否是特定动物的饲养者，而不是该动物是狼还是狗。在互动测试中，我们发现雄性动物以及训练师感觉关系更亲密的动物，会花更多时间靠近训练师并与他们接触；物种之间没有差异。
这些结果支持了这样一种假设，即与狗一样，狼在高度社会化时也能与熟悉的人类建立密切关系（犬类合作假说）。此外，与其他研究一样，狗比狼表现出更多的顺从行为，并且与经验丰富的训练师相比，与经验较少的训练师相处时表现得更明显。我们的研究表明，人类和犬科动物彼此形成了不同的关系，如果关系密切，这种关系与动物是狼还是狗无关。
