%0 Journal Article %A Chira, Angela M. %A Kirby, Kathryn %A Epperlein, Theresa %A Bräuer, Juliane %+ Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society %T Function predicts how people treat their dogs in a global sample : %G eng %U https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000C-E9E0-0 %R 10.1038/s41598-023-31938-5 %7 2023-03-27 %D 2023 %8 27.03.2023 %* Review method: peer-reviewed %X Dogs have an extraordinary relationship with humans. We understand, communicate, and cooperate remarkably with our dogs. But almost all we know about dog-human bonds, dog behaviour, and dog cognition is limited to Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic (WEIRD) societies. WEIRD dogs are kept for a variety of functions, and these can influence their relationship with their owner, as well as their behaviour and performance in problem-solving tasks. But are such associations representative worldwide? Here we address this by collecting data on the function and perception of dogs in 124 globally distributed societies using the eHRAF cross-cultural database. We hypothesize that keeping dogs for multiple purposes and/or employing dogs for highly cooperative or high investment functions (e.g., herding, guarding of herds, hunting) will lead to closer dog-human bonds: increased primary caregiving (or positive care), decreased negative treatment, and attributing personhood to dogs. Our results show that indeed, the number of functions associates positively with close dog-human interactions. Further, we find increased odds of positive care in societies that use herding dogs (an effect not replicated for hunting), and increased odds of dog personhood in cultures that keep dogs for hunting. Unexpectedly, we see a substantial decrease of dog negative treatment in societies that use watchdogs. Overall, our study shows the mechanistic link between function and the characteristics of dog-human bonds in a global sample. These results are a first step towards challenging the notion that all dogs are the same, and open questions about how function and associated cultural correlates could fuel departures from the ‘typical’ behaviour and social-cognitive skills we commonly associate with our canine friends. %K Anthropology, Biological anthropology, Evolution %Z Results - Treatment of dogs and dog functions. - Treatment of dogs, subsistence, ecology, and nuisance parameters. Discussion - Increased affect and utility with multiple dog functions, but uneven effects across individual roles. - No evidence for positive care in societies that keep dogs for hunting. - Differential effects and potentially shifting pressures of utility versus affect. - Decreased negative treatment when dogs are kept for defence. - Distant dog‑human relationships with reliance on animal husbandry. - Complexities in dog‑human interactions. - Dog functions and dog‑human relationships: cultural and psychological perspectives. Methods - Data collection: eHRAF search and coding of variables. - Function and treatment of dogs. - Covariates for the treatment of dogs. - Phylogenetic and spatial dependence. - Statistical modelling. %J Scientific Reports %V 13 %N 1 %] 4954 %I Nature Publishing Group %C London, UK %@ 2045-2322