They’ll blow your house down
as they grasp cause and effect
much better than dogs.
The process of domestication is thought to impact on a number of cognitive and physical properties as species adapt to the human environment. The close social ties between humans and dogs are an extreme example and comparing the cognition of dogs with wolves can reveal information about the impact of domestication.
Using animals housed under similar pack conditions and with prior experience of interacting with humans, Lampe et al (2017) found that whilst wolves and dogs can follow human-given communication equally well, wolves were better at understanding causal cues in the absence of humans (such as a rattling container indicating the presence of food). Domestication may have led to a reduction in the ability of dogs to solve some problems independently of humans.