oxytocin receptor gene polymorphisms are associated with human directed social behavior in dogs canis familiaris the oxytocin system has a crucial role in human sociality several results prove that polymorphisms of the oxytocin receptor gene are related to complex social behaviors in humans dogs parallel evolution with humans and their adaptation to the human environment has made them a useful species to model human social interactions previous research indicates that dogs are eligible models for behavioral genetic research as well based on these previous findings our research investigated associations between human directed social behaviors and two newly described 212ag 19131ag and one known rs8679684 single nucleotide polymorphisms snps in the regulatory regions 5 and 3 utr of the oxytocin receptor gene in german shepherd n 104 and border collie n 103 dogs dogs behavior traits have been estimated in a newly developed test series consisting of five episodes greeting by a stranger separation from the owner problem solving threatening approach hiding of the owner buccal samples were collected and dna was isolated using standard protocols snps in the 3 and 5 utr regions were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction based techniques followed by subsequent electrophoresis analysis the genebehavior association analysis suggests that oxytocin receptor gene polymorphisms have an impact in both breeds on i proximity seeking towards an unfamiliar person as well as their owner and on ii how friendly dogs behave towards strangers although the mediating molecular regulatory mechanisms are yet unknown based on these results we conclude that similarly to humans the social behavior of dogs towards humans is influenced by the oxytocin system