• Dog breed
• Gazing
• Cephalic Index
• Canis familiaris

Dogs can show the location of hidden food to their owners through visual communicative strategies. We were able to perform the out of reach/hidden object task on 101 pure-breed dogs to study pet dogs’ showing behavior. We evaluated the dogs under three conditions: OWNER+FOOD (owner and food in a pot present), OWNER ONLY (no food), FOOD ONLY (no owner). To avoid any biases due to the unconscious communication, the owners were not aware about the presence/absence or the location of food. Moreover, the owner could not interact with their dog. We confirmed the efficiency of gazing alternations and gazing at the correct pot as “showing behavior” strategies, suggesting the potential referential function in communicating with humans. Yet, we did not find any difference in dogs’ gazing at the owner across the conditions. Contrary to our expectations, neither Cephalix Index, age, sex, or breed’s linages influenced dogs' showing behavior. In addition, we suggested that the lack of human attention, when dogs indicated the food, led dogs to demonstrate more distress (i.e., mouth-licking) due to the lack of reciprocity, with older dogs displaying more discomfort since they had more experience receiving owner attention when needed.