Deference or sociability? Insights from dogs' and wolves' human-directed behavior in a food-conflict task

Whether dogs' pronounced human proximity-seeking is motivated by a selection for hypersociability or deferential behavior (i.e., will to please the human) remains contested. Since disentangling these motivations has been challenging in amicable contexts, this study investigated the human-directed behavior of human-socialized dogs (n = 11) and wolves (n = 12) in a resource conflict, wherein a bonded human engaged in a tug of war over food with the animal while protesting loudly. Non-conflict trials served as controls. The deferential behavior hypothesis would be supported if dogs engaged less in conflict compared to non-conflict trials and to wolves, while conflict should not impact dogs if hypersociability drives them primarily. Results were mixed: dogs engaged less vigorously during the conflict than wolves but approached the task quicker. This suggests dogs may have been conflicted between the compliance of participating in the trained task and complying with the protesting human. Moreover, dogs showed more human directedness than wolves. While both species approached the human faster after conflict (suggesting reconciliation), the self-directed and adverse behaviors did not clearly indicate whether the animals perceived the situation as a strong conflict. To more definitively tease the two hypotheses apart, future studies should use stronger conflict scenarios and avoid pre-trained tasks.