Do you have a dog in your life and your family? You are no doubt amazed with their unique abilities. Most of us easily recognize the fact that they are fantastic companions and will stick by our side faithfully through thick and thin. In fact, most of us come to appreciate and love our pets so much that they actually become a part of our family. In some cases, they may even be more of a part of our family than some of the humans in our family!
We often rely on our dogs to keep us safe and to alert us to any problems that may be happening. One of the benefits of owning a dog is the fact that you often sleep better at night because you know they are on the watch. As it turns out, dogs are not only alert to potential dangers and things that go ‘bump in the night’, they are also able to size up an individual and know if they are good or bad instantly.
This comes from a recent study that showed how easy it is for dogs to analyze the reliability of a person. More than likely, you have recognized this in your dog but it is nice to know that science has your back.
This study was conducted by the Akiko Takaoka of Kyoto University in Japan. They wanted to determine if a dog was able to tell if a person was lying and if they would trust that person instinctively. In order to make the determination, they separated the experiment into 3 parts. The test was designed to make sure that a dog could tell if a person was not worthy of being trusted.
According to the scientists who took part in the study, it will have implications that span beyond our own knowledge about dogs. It lets us know that dogs like their world to be certain and this was backed up by John Bradshaw, who is with the University of Bristol.
The study was conducted as follows:
A dog owner would point to a container of food. The dog would run over to it and then they would point to a can without food. The dogs would also run over to the empty container but they were tricked into doing so.
It is no secret that dogs will run to an object when someone they trust points at it. It is similar to the fake throw, which many dogs will go for over and over again. It is thought that dogs may be able to understand human gestures but if there isn’t a consistency in those gestures, it could cause stress and nervousness in the canine.
The third time that it took place, the dog would not follow when the object was pointed out by their owner. They didn’t believe those who were lying to them!
A total of 34 dogs were part of the experiment and there was consistency among all of the participants. The findings were printed in the Animal Cognition Journal, stating that dogs would use their previous experience to determine if a person was unreliable.
This study is going to be taken to the next level by using wolves, which are close relatives to the dogs we have in our homes. According to this experiment, dogs are also curious creatures.
The research also shows that dogs control how people interact with their owners. An experiment was done in which dog owners asked a stranger for help. Those people would then try to give the dog a treat. What happened next surprised us.
When people behaved rudely toward the owners, the dog would not take the treat. They would take it, however, when the stranger helped their owner. They even trusted those who did nothing to help but those who were aggressive and rude did not have the trust of the canine.
Another study reported in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews showed that dogs were able to easily read the communication between a stranger and their owner. Two groups of strangers were asked for help by the dog’s owners. The dogs seemed to follow the social rules very closely. When somebody mistreated their owners, they avoided them.
Additional studies have already shown that dogs are able to respond and understand gestures and facial expressions. These new studies show that they are more intelligent than those previous studies let on. They are able to decipher our gestures but can also follow social cues. It is interesting, however, that these studies also show that dogs live in the present and don’t typically look at past or future experiences.
The bottom line is, if you lie to your dog, you will lose their trust. If your dog doesn’t like your friends, then maybe you should look closely at the relationship.