Findings in title quoted from the linked summary^1 and its hyperlinked journal paper^2 examining the call of the wild.

From the linked summary^1 released by Eötvös Loránd University:

>[Department of Ethology] researchers tested 68 purebred family dogs by playing back recordings of wolf howls and observing their reactions in a behavioural laboratory.

>To test the effect of the breed, the different breeds’ genetic similarity to wolves (so-called “root distance”) was used as a measure.

>“According to our results, breeds which are genetically more similar to wolves (“ancient breeds”), are more prone to reply with their own howls to wolf howl playbacks. On the other hand, breeds more distantly related to wolves (“modern breeds”) typically reacted with barking instead of howls.

>“It seems that although howling is present in most breeds’ repertoire, it lost its functionality due to the changed social environment, thus, modern breeds do not use it in adequate situations” - explains Fanni Lehoczki, the first author of the study.

>“Additionally, we found that breeds which howl more also show more stress-related behaviours in this situation. We assume that more ancient breeds, which are genetically closer to wolves, can process the information encoded in wolf howls better than modern breeds.

>“Thus, ancient breeds of our study might become stressed by intruding on a pack’s territory and use howling for the sake of avoidance, just as wolves do.” - says Tamás Faragó, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Ethology, ELTE and the senior author of the study.

^1 The wilderness is calling — will your dog answer?, Eötvös Loránd University, 6 Feb. 2023, https://ttk.elte.hu/en/content/the-wilderness-is-calling-will-your-dog-answer.t.6415

^2 F. Lehoczki, A. Andics, A. Kershenbaum, et al. Genetic distance from wolves affects family dogs’ reactions towards howls. Communications Biology 6, 129 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-04450-9