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Communications Psychology volume 3, Article number: 102 (2025)
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Dogs have worked and lived with humans for thousands of generations. Modern dogs’ looks and behaviour differ substantially from wolves’. A study in Journal of Neuroscience compares the behaviour and brains of modern and pre-modern dogs to understand the course of wolf-to-dog domestication.
Dogs descend from wolves, though as per a popular (and not quite scientific) internet meme, how wolves’ readiness to approach a campsite resulted in the existence of pugs raises questions of what happened along the way. Indeed, many dog breeds, be they short-snouted, bow-legged, curly-haired, or flap-eared look radically different from wolves. Their behaviours, too, do not match exactly: dogs bark differently, corral livestock, or fetch frisbees. Yet, the tasks and behaviours at which dogs excel clearly originate in wolves’ behaviour, modified over many generations.
Using modern dogs to understand early domestication is tricky: modern dog breeds have been shaped by intensive artificial selection. Since the 19th century, their looks have played an increasing role in the selection of pedigree dogs, as have behavioural tendencies for working breeds. This isn’t so much the case for pre-modern dogs, such as ancient breeds, Guinea singing dogs, and village dogs.
Pull out: “Behavioral traits that don’t quite fit the mold of the modern companion dog”
A comparison of pre-modern and modern dogs can thus help to understand better what happened during the process of wolf-to-dog transition. A new study by Sophie Barton and colleagues1 therefore focuses on differences in brain structure and behaviour between modern and pre-modern dogs. As Sophie Barton notes, “Anecdotally, owners of premodern dogs report behavioural traits that don’t quite fit the mold of the modern companion dog”, raising the question how much their brains differ from those of modern dog breeds.
The researchers took brain scans of 85 dogs, including 13 pre-modern dogs, to compare brain size and grey-matter volume. Modern dogs breeds included Labrador retriever, border collie, and German shepherd and pre-modern dog breeds were saluki, samoyed, shiba inu, west Siberian laika, New Guinea singing dog, Kishu ken, Indian village dog, Korean village dog, and Siberian husky. The dogs were sedated and monitored during the scans to ensure their safety. Behavioural traits were assessed with a standardized questionnaire filled in by the owners. Dogs received a bandana and an image of their brain.
Modern breed dogs exhibit significant cortical expansion compared to pre-modern dogs, particularly in regions associated with higher-order sensory processing and cognition. This expansion corresponds to increased trainability scores in the questionnaires. Similarly, cortical areas supporting social cognition and social communication are larger in modern dogs, after controlling for overall brain size. At the same time, modern breeds have reduced amygdala volume, associated with lower fear scores.
The findings suggest that intensive selection in modern breeds has favoured increased trainability and reduced fearfulness. This chimes well with modern dogs’ role as companions coping with life in cities and working animals solving complex tasks. Studying ancient dog offer a unique window into what early dogs might have been like at the start of the human-dog partnership, as Sophie Barton explains, and may also help owners of these breeds understand better how their dogs tick as their ancestry asserts itself in behaviour.
Barton Sophie, A., Smaers Jeroen, B., Serpell James, A. & Hecht Erin, E. Brain-behavior differences in pre-modern and modern lineages of domestic dogs. J Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2032-24.2025 (2025).
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Communications Psychology, Berlin, Germany
Marike Schiffer
PubMed Google Scholar
Correspondence to Marike Schiffer.
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Schiffer, M. Neuroscience: Domestication shaped dogs’ brains and behaviour. Commun Psychol 3, 102 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00283-w
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Communications Psychology (Commun Psychol)
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