New research spanning five continents and vastly different cultures — from the steppes of Mongolia to the rainforests of the Pacific — shows that hunting dogs and their owners cooperate, communicate and rely on each other in nearly identical ways, suggesting the relationship was forged in deep evolutionary time, perhaps 30,000 years ago.
Testing situation and hunters with their dogs — examples from each of the four non-WEIRD societies: (a) pointing test in Mongolia, (b) unsolvable problem test in Vanuatu, (c) showing test in Mongolia, (d) Vanuatu, (e) Mongolia, (f) Madagascar, (g) Peru. Image credit: Bräuer et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-57657-1.
Over the past 25 years, domestic dogs have become a subject of increasing scientific study.
During the process of domestication, dogs have evolved human-like skills for functioning effectively in human societies.
In particular, they show special skills in the social-communicative domain, allowing them to react appropriately to human gestures and language. The domestication process probably selected for dogs that were good cooperative partners.
These special communicative and cooperative skills have been investigated in detail, including the dog’s use of the human pointing gesture, showing behavior, perspective-taking, social referencing, communication during an unsolvable problem, and obedience.
However, most of this knowledge comes from studies with dogs from ‘WEIRD’ (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) societies.
“In our field research, we focused specifically on hunting dogs because humans and animals have to cooperate particularly closely in this context,” said Dr. Juliane Bräuer, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Jena.
“It is likely that this very cooperation was in fact a key factor in the domestication of the dog, the very first animal ever to be domesticated.”
To determine whether the dog-human bond is universal or culturally shaped, Dr. Bräuer and colleagues tested 164 dog-human teams across five culturally diverse regions (Germany, Madagascar, Mongolia, Peru, and Vanuatu).
They used standardized behavioral tests to see how dogs and humans communicate and cooperate with each other.
They found that the relationship is surprisingly similar worldwide, suggesting it is rooted in shared evolutionary history rather than culture.
In all regions, dogs understood human gestures, communicated actively with their owners and relied heavily on them for guidance in difficult situations.
A consistent picture also emerged among the people: dog owners described their pets as reliable partners, valued their company and saw them not merely as working animals, but as an enrichment to their lives.
“We had expected to find marked cultural differences, but found that the dog-human relationship is surprisingly universal across the globe,” Dr. Bräuer said.
Despite the strong similarities, differences also emerged, primarily linked to environmental conditions and hunting practices.
For example, hunters in Vanuatu are much better at interpreting their dogs’ cues than those in any other region.
On the South Pacific islands, dogs are particularly important for tracking wild boar in dense undergrowth, which requires a very fine degree of coordination between human and animal.
In Germany, by contrast, dogs rely more heavily on their owners and respond more reliably to their signals, presumably as a result of more intensive training methods.
“Despite dramatic cultural and environmental differences, we found that dog-human relationships were remarkably similar,” the authors said.
“Residual differences may be attributed to variations in hunting techniques and differences between WEIRD and non-WEIRD societies.”
A paper describing this research was published today in the journal Scientific Reports.
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J. Bräuer et al. 2026. Striking global similarities in dog-human interactions. Sci Rep 16, 18527; doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-57657-1
