Interspecific communication between dogs and humans enables dogs to occupy significant roles in human society, both in companion and working roles. Dogs excel at using human communicative signals in problem-solving tasks, and solicit human contact when unable to solve a problem. Dogs’ sociocognitive behavior likely results from a selection for attention to humans during domestication, but is highly susceptible to environmental factors. Training for particular tasks appears to enhance dog–human communication, but effects may depend on the nature of the relationship determined by their role. Our aim was to examine two types of social cognition (responsiveness to human gestures, and human-directed communicative behavior in an unsolvable task) in pet dogs (n = 29) and detection dogs (n = 35). The groups did not differ in their ability to follow human signals, but pets were less responsive to signals given by a stranger than by their owner. Pets also exhibited more human-directed gazing in the unsolvable task, showing a bias for gazing at their owner compared with the stranger, whereas detection dogs showed greater persistence in attempting to solve the task compared with pets. Thus, different aspects of dogs’ sociocognitive behavior may differentially vary as a function of selection or training for particular roles.

狗与人之间的种间交流使狗能够在人类社会中扮演重要角色，包括陪伴和工作。狗擅长在解决问题的任务中使用人类的交流信号，并在无法解决问题时寻求人类的联系。狗的社会认知行为可能是由于驯养过程中对人类的选择引起的，但极易受到环境因素的影响。对特定任务的培训似乎可以增强人与狗之间的交流，但效果可能取决于它们的角色所决定的关系的性质。我们的目的是研究宠物狗（n = 29）和侦查狗（n = 29）的两种社会认知类型（对人类手势的反应能力以及在无法解决的任务中人类指导的交流行为）= 35）。这些群体遵循人类信号的能力没有差异，但是宠物对陌生人发出的信号的反应要比其主人响应的反应少。宠物在无法解决的任务中也表现出更多的以人为导向的凝视，与陌生人相比，对主人的凝视有偏见，而与宠物相比，侦查犬表现出更大的毅力。因此，根据特定角色的选择或训练，狗的社会认知行为的不同方面可能会有所不同。