Canine Domestication, Social
Structure and Behavioural Influences

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In the last decade, the UK's dog (Canis familiaris) population doubled (PFS, 2024), with more dogs in homes, sleeping, or working with us, it is even more important to understand them. Research links wolves (Canis lupus) and dogs genetically (Lin et al., 2025), but misconceptions wrongly compare their behaviour.

Wolf DNA helped dogs adapt to environments, boosting traits like smell, alertness, size, and suspicion of strangers. Whether humans selected these traits or they appeared naturally is unclear. Much about their evolution remains unknown (Bergström et al., 2020). To understand dog behaviour, we must explore domestication and social differences from wolves, especially considering their upbringing and environments (Janssens et al., 2018).  

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This website explores two main topics:

• How domestication occurred

• How dogs organise socially in different living environments

 

These topics help explain why dogs in homes, kennels, and on the streets around the world behave differently. How did wolves become dogs?

The domestication of dogs from Gray wolves is a key event in human prehistory, significantly changing human societies and the evolution of both species (Janssens et al., 2019; Bergström et al., 2022; Górski et al., 2026).

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Scientists propose two main explanations:

1. The self-domestication hypothesis

2. The human-directed domestication hypothesis

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Both suggest different mechanisms behind the transformation of wolves into domestic dogs. Each hypothesis is detailed with evidence, criticisms are considered, and the supported model is evaluated.