Ancient breeds, being genetically closer to wolves than other breeds, have been suggested to exhibit low levels of human-directed behaviour. They differ from most other breed groups in visual contact seeking behaviour, seeking little eye contact with humans and take longer time to first gaze at humans compared to other modern dog breeds. In my study, the two participating breed group were similar in their eye contact seeking behaviour. However, even though not significant, ancient breeds displayed a longer latency to gaze at any human (owner and experimenter results combined) during the unsolvable problem task and a longer latency for first gaze at the experimenter. The participating hunting breeds used in this study were bred for and used to hunt out of sight from the owner. Previously it has been suggested that recent selection may have a big impact on dog behaviour. Hence, it is possible that the similarities in eye-contact seeking behaviour between breed groups found in the present study reflects the main selection and purpose of the dog since none of the participating breed groups are selected for human cooperation.

It was also revealed that hunting breeds spent significantly more time in experimenter proximity and had a higher number of occasions spent in proximity to the experimenter. Further, that the majority (N = 12) of the 18 dogs that did not engage in any human physical contact were of ancient origin. Thus, even though only few significant human-directed behavioural differences were found in this study, the results were in line with the hypothesis that dogs of ancient origin would not engage in human-directed behaviour to the same extent as dogs of independently working hunting breeds. However, it is important to note that this study only included hunting breeds that work independently of the owner. Previous studies that showed differences in human-directed behaviour in ancient breeds and hunting breeds, also included breeds hunting in close cooperation with the owner (e.g. Labrador retriever, Irish setter and Flatcoated retriever). Hence, the behavioural results found in the present study might therefore, as mentioned before, at least be partly explained by the purpose and selection of the dog. 

The MDORS, assessing the owners perceived relationship to their dog, revealed that ancient breeds had a higher score for Dog-owner interaction (Subscale I) and Perceived emotional closeness (Subscale II) while the hunting groups had a higher score for Perceived costs (Subscale III). This suggests that owners of hunting breeds experienced less positive interaction with their dogs, perceived a weaker emotional bond and considered their dogs as being more costly compared to owners of ancient breeds. These results might mirror the purpose of the dogs participating in the study. The ancient group of dogs in this study were generally kept for the purpose of companionship while the hunting group of dogs were to a larger extent kept for the purpose of hunting. The hunting breeds participating in this study were also bred and used for the purpose of hunting independently of the owner and not for hunting in close cooperation. Therefore, hunting dogs might not receive affection to the same extent as ancient dogs. My results are in line with a previous study which found that owners with dogs kept for the purpose of hunting had a lower score for empathy and were also less positive towards pets compared to owners with companion dogs. However, the perceived costs (Subscale III) relates to how the owner experiences restrictions, responsibility and monetary aspects by owning a dog. In the present study, the hunting group had higher scores for this subscale compared to the ancient group. Hence, these results suggest that the purpose of the dogs could affect the human-dog relationship. 

This study revealed that dogs of ancient breeds and their owners correlated significantly in their long-term stress levels. Synchronisation in long-term stress within dog-owner dyads has recently been shown to exist within herding dogs and their owners. Hence, companion dogs, not bred particularly for human cooperation, showed significant correlations with their owners in their long-term stress levels. However, hunting dogs and their owners did not significantly correlate in their long-term stress levels. It was also revealed that ancient breeds significantly correlated with their owners and tended to correlate with the extra adult person in their long-term stress levels, while this was not found for the hunting breeds. Again, the purpose of the dog which was also related to the differences in the owner perceived relationship with the dog as showed by the MDORS results might influence the different HCC results in ancient and hunting breeds. 

Interestingly, HCC of ancient breeds correlated positively with the perceived emotional closeness (subscale II) of MDORS. A stronger perceived emotional bond between owner and dog indicated lower values in the dogs’ long-term stress levels. It has previously been shown that human-dogs interaction has a calming effect in humans due to an increase in dopamine and decrease in cortisol levels and heart rate. The interaction has also been shown to decrease the stress levels in dogs. Given this, the interaction between owner and dog might result in the decrease of HCC. For hunting breeds, dog HCC correlated positively with perceived costs (subscale III) of MDORS. As previously mentioned, owners of hunting breeds experienced less positive interaction with their dogs and perceived a weaker emotional bond. Hence, the combined results from the MDORS and HCC in this study suggests that the relationship between the dog and the owner could have an effect on the dogs HCC. 

• Few differences between the participating breed groups in their human-directed behaviour.
• A synchronisation in long-term stress could be found between ancient breeds dog-owner dyads, with a strong tendency for such synchronisations to be continious throughout the household within ancient breeds. 
• No synchronisations in long-term stress could be found within the hunting group
• The perceived relationship between owner and dog differs between breed groups and seems to affect synchronisation in long-term stress.