Due to domestication, it has been suggested that the social orientation of wolves on their pack makes has been shifted towards humans in dogs, potentially causing dogs to be more alert to their environment than wolves. Indeed, previous results show that dogs resting isolated of their pack members and with an unfamiliar human around were more alert than wolves in the same condition ˗ alertness was defined as degree of activation along the sleep-wake continuum and measured via cardiac parameters. To test the influence of social context on alertness, we replicated this study comparing wolves and dogs in two states of activation: (1) inactive wakefulness and (2) resting, and in three conditions: (1) subject is alone, (2) subject is with a familiar human partner, (3) subject is with pack members. We found that wolves and dogs were more alert when resting alone than with pack members. When dogs were resting with a familiar human around they were less alert than wolves, but not when awake. We conclude that alertness in wolves and dogs depends on social context, i.e. domestication has probably partly shifted the social orientation in dogs from pack members to humans, which could make them more flexible in their response to their environment than wolves.