An Eye for a Treat: Human Gazing Modulates Begging by Free-ranging Dogs

TL;DR

This study explores how human gazing influences begging behaviors in free-ranging dogs, revealing that dogs adapt their strategies based on social context, sex, and human attention cues, demonstrating their social cognition and behavioral flexibility.

Contribution

It provides new insights into how free-ranging dogs modulate begging behavior in response to human social cues and environmental factors, highlighting their behavioral plasticity.

Findings

Solitary dogs beg more than group dogs

Female dogs exhibit higher begging rates

Dogs adjust begging based on human gaze and food availability

Abstract

Interspecific communication plays a critical role in mediating human-animal interactions, particularly in contexts involving access to anthropogenic resources. This study investigates the influence of human gazing on the begging strategies of free-ranging dogs in urban and peri-urban environments. Begging behaviour, commonly observed in dogs seeking food from humans, offers insights into their behavioural flexibility and cognitive attunement to human social cues. We observed 650 adult dogs in both solitary and group settings to assess how social context shapes the expression of begging behaviour in free-ranging dogs. Our findings indicate that solitary dogs beg more frequently than those in groups, and that female dogs exhibit higher rates of begging, predominantly through passive strategies. Moreover, dogs modulate their active begging in response to subtle variations in human gazing and food availability. These results suggest that passive begging is influenced by stable situational factors such as sex and group composition, while active begging is more responsive to immediate environmental cues, including human attentional state. Collectively, our findings highlight the social competence and behavioural plasticity of free-ranging dogs in navigating interspecies interactions, and contribute to a broader understanding of how communicative strategies evolve in response to social and ecological pressures.