The domestication of animals and plants offers an exceptional opportunity to study evolutionaryadaptations. In particular, domesticated animals display several behavioral alterations, including in-creased sociability and decreased fearfulness and aggression, when compared with their wild ancestors.However, studies quantifying simultaneous changes in multiple behaviors during domestication arelacking. Moreover, the role of human-directed play behavior has been largely neglected when studyingthe domestication process. Here we address these issues by examining behavioral changes during thedomestication of the dog (Canis familiaris) from the gray wolf (Canis lupus) using a standardizedbehavioral test applied to wolf hybrids and several dog breeds. Contrary to expectations, our studyprovides little support for collective behavioral alterations. Specifically, although we found that wolfhybrids were less playful and overall more fearful than dogs, we did not detect any differences insociability or aggression between wolf hybrids and dog breeds. Instead, our results suggest thatbehavioral alterations during domestication do not necessarily occur in concert and point to an important,but previously overlooked, role of selection on play behavior directed at humans during the domesticationof dogs.