Have you ever looked at your little fur ball only to find him giving you the side eye? If so, you may have had that uncomfortable suspicion that fickle Fido is judging you. Turns out you may not be imagining things and that dogs really do understand enough of human behavior to pass judgement.
One of the more publicized studies came out of Kyoto University in Japan, which shows that dogs can tell if a person is lying and then judge that person to be unreliable. Researchers gathered data on 34 different dogs that were presented with a human pointing to a treat jar and allowing them to eat. The next round a person would point the dog to the treat jar only for the dog to discover its empty. The dogs feeling “tricked” would no longer follow instructions from that person. When a new person came along to again point them to the treat jar, they would follow his command, because, as of yet, this person has not proven himself unreliable. This fascinating study shows that dogs have a much higher degree of social intelligence than we once thought and that their long history of interacting with humans has allowed them to understand us in ways, we didn’t know were possible. Keep this in mind the next time you pretend to throw a ball or offer a nonexistent treat; If you “lie” to him too often, your dog may begin to judge you as being unreliable, hindering your bond and his respect for you.
Studies also reveal that dogs judge humans for being rude or unhelpful. In this experiment, dog owners pretended to struggle with opening a jar, while actors in turn pretended to help the owner, refuse the owner, or stand by passively and watch the owner. Afterwards the actors offered the dogs treats, the dogs rejected the treats offered by those actors who overtly refused to help the owner. Interestingly, the study illustrates how well dogs can interpret human interactions and make decisions based on these interpretations. Furthermore, the experiment proves that dogs have moral standards and will not interact with those humans they judge as rude, even if it means missing out on an extra treat.
In another study, dogs were shown to not only judge a person’s moral worth but also a person’s competency. The dogs watched as a “competent” human opened a container, and an “incompetent” human fail at the same task. Researchers discovered that female dogs especially stared and interacted more with the “competent” actors, judging them to be more worth their approval. So, the next time you struggle with opening a package or door lock, remember your pup is watching you and, if female, she is probably judging whether or not you are worthy of her respect. By and large these studies give us fascinating new insights into our furry friends’ ability to understand human behavior, but do not change what we already know, that for the most part our dogs love us and are very accepting of our faults. As long as your pup receives comfort and kindness from you, he will be more than willing to put up with a few “tricks” and incompetencies.
