A dog that jumps up happily with the sound of his belt removed of the hook: we like to believe that is because the dog understands that he and the boss may be going for a walk. But is it possible to speak about happiness when you are talking about an animal? Or does the dog simply recognize your behavior, unable to do anything else but wagging his tail and running to the door?

Nearly half of all households own a dog. People often feel like they know their dog and their dog knows them, through and through. Still, many commonly held beliefs about dogs are mistaken. Humans did not intentionally breed dogs from wolves. Dogs didn't even descend from big gray wolves. Moreover, dogs do not have special cognitive abilities, rather they use the same mental skill as are found in other canids like foxes and wolves. The huge difference between dogs and wolves lies in a small difference in developmental timing. Dogs, according to Wynne, are wolves that refused to grow up. Is it perhaps their perpetual childishness that makes them so appealing to us?

Professor Clive Wynne is doing research on dogs that are kept as pets at the Canine Cognition & Behavior Lab (Psychology, University of Florida). Furthermore he is research director at the Wolf Park in Indiana. In his lecture Wynne will discuss the relationship between people and dogs, studied from the perspective of biology and psychology.