When you point at something, does your dog look at where you’re pointing? Or does he look at your finger? Is responding to this visual cue an inherited genetic trait, something we humans have bred for in the domestication of dogs? Or is it more a matter of the dog’s training?

Researchers Marta Gacsi, et al. have just published a very interesting study, “Effects of selection for cooperation and attention in dogs,” in the recent issue of Behavioral and Brain Functions that sheds much light on these questions.