Abstract
Gazing toward humans is fundamental in dog-human communication. This study aimed to characterize companion dogs based on their gazing behavior and to explore the potential links between gazing, personality (liveliness, confidence, aggressiveness, and attachment), emotional comfort provided to the owners, and breed. We observed 171 dogs in an ambiguous situation involving a moving stimulus, a remote-controlled toy car and gathered additional data with questionnaires. Our behavior analysis, based on gaze frequency directed at the owner and experimenter, identified four distinct clusters of dogs: low gazers, experimenter-focused gazers, owner-focused gazers, and frequent gazers. We found that experimenter-focused gazers exhibited lower levels of liveliness than frequent gazers and were reported to be less aggressive than low gazers and frequent gazers. Owner-focused gazers provided more emotional comfort to their owners than low gazers. Regarding breeds, 56.5% of German shepherd dogs were low gazers, compared to only 5.3% of golden retrievers. Age, sex, neutered status, and approaching the stimulus were not associated with cluster membership. These results highlight the complexity of dog-human communication, suggesting that personality, emotional factors, and breed shape how dogs seek guidance and support from humans or express anxiety.