If you’ve coped with a dog for a long sufficient time, the possibilities are that at some time you will have returned home to discover them skulking around the living-room, surrounded by the damaged remains of a china vase, plume pillow or other important product.
The scene is so typical that it has actually generated ‘dog shaming’, an Internet subculture where dog owners share pictures of their pups revealing an appearance of embarassment in addition to an indication connected to them detailing their latest misdemeanour.
“The ‘guilty look’ is when we think a dog looks guilty of some infraction,” says Alexandra Horowitz, a teacher of canine cognition based at Barnard College, Columbia University, New York.
“Maybe their ears or back or their head is down. Maybe they’re looking away a little, or their tail is wagging low between their legs.”
But exactly what is going through our dogs’ minds when they show this behaviour? Probably not what you’re anticipating…
Why do dogs truly provide us that ‘guilty look’?
To examine the reasons that our family pet pooches imitate this, Horowitz and her group established an experiment. They had a dog and their owner go into a room and after that positioned a delicious treat in front of them. The owners were then asked to leave the room after purchasing their dogs not to consume the treat.
While the owners were away, a few of the dogs were offered the prohibited treat while some weren’t. The owners were then asked back into the room and informed whether the dog had actually consumed the treat or left it alone as asked. However, some owners were informed that the dog had actually consumed the treat when they hadn’t.
“What I found is that they show the same amount of the ‘guilty look’ whether they ate the treat or not. What changed the rate of the look was if the owners thought they had eaten it and came to scold them, however mildly,” says Horowitz.
“The dogs placed on this submissive, appeasement appearance, stating ‘whatever it is, I’m sorry’. But they do it if we simply provide a mad face. Even when they have not done anything incorrect. That’s a genuine indication that it’s not due to the fact that they’re feeling guilty.
“This doesn’t mean they can’t feel guilt, just that we’re not great at reading that behaviour.”
This suggests the guilty appearance isn’t an expression of regret or embarassment at all. It’s merely owners misinterpreting their family pet’s behaviour by associating human feelings to the actions of dogs.
So, next time you believe your dog may’ve done something they shouldn’t have, perhaps hesitate in the past providing the stink eye.
About our specialist, Prof Alexandra Horowitz
Alexandra is a teacher of canine cognition based at Barnard College, Columbia University, New York.
Her work has actually been released in the scholastic journals Animal Cognition, Learning And Behaviour and the Official Journal Of The Society For Neuroscience.
She is likewise the author of the books Inside Of A Dog – What Dogs See, Smell And Know and The Year Of The Puppy.
Read more about dogs:
