Christina Hansen Wheat, Clive DL Wynne

Dogs are an exceptional resource for studying ecological, behavioural and evolutionary processes. However, several widespread misconceptions limit our understanding of dog behaviour and inhibit the use of dogs as model study systems in diverse areas of biological science. These include extensive anthropomorphisation of dog behaviour, a profound bias towards almost exclusively studying pet dogs, a widespread belief that dog domestication was human-driven and that the majority of dogs are not subjects of natural selection. Here we argue that dogs should be studied using species-general fundamental principles of ecology and evolution, and that the focus in dog research should shift towards free-ranging dogs, which comprise ~80% of the global dog population. By reviewing the available literature on free-ranging dog behavioural ecology we place the dog within an objective biological framework. We find that free-ranging dog populations express substantial variation in their behavioural ecology across their global range and propose that this variation is key to understanding dogs’ great success in the rapidly developing anthropogenic niche. Since free-ranging dogs have a global distribution across various environmental gradients, including urbanization, climate and social structures, they provide an ideal opportunity to collect comparable, large-scale data across populations. Combined with in-depth knowledge of dog evolutionary history and the advanced genetic tools specifically developed using this species, dogs can be an outstanding model for the study of urban ecology and evolution.