A study conducted by Akiko Takaoka of Kyoto University in Japan, wanted to know whether a dog would trust a person who lied to it. The analysts split the experimentation into 3 segments. They wanted to learn if the dog could understand whether or not the individual was untrustworthy.
The team of scientists suggests that the research has a possible implication in dogs’ behavioral studies. The study informs us that dogs prefer this world to be certain, according to John Bradshaw with the University of Bristol
The simple experiment would have a dog and his owner interacting, where the owner would point the dog to container with food. Later, the owner would point to a container without any food in it. The dogs were deceived and approached the empty container.
Previously, it has been known that the dogs would run to an object their human would point at. Hence, dogs are supposed to be able to understand human gestures. And if the gestures are changeable, then the puppy can become nervous and stressed.
At the third try, the dogs would refuse comply with the pointing hand. They did not trust the liars. From 34 dogs in the experiment, they all showed the same results, according to the Animal Cognition Journal. Dogs could use their previous experience to know that a man was unreliable.
Mr. Takaoka plans to keep the experimentation with wolves as they are the nearest relatives to dogs. The current experiment also demonstrates that dogs are interested in new things.
It’s been confirmed before that dogs are able to read our gestures and facial expressions. We know more about these and they are much more apt than we were led to think! They could interpret our perceptions and can also decide if they want to follow social cues. However, several studies reveal that dogs mainly live in the current with no much consideration for the past or future.
Should you mislead your puppy, it will lose trust or obey you. If your puppy doesn’t like your friends, perhaps there is something wrong in your friendships?
How smart is your dog? Share your stories with us in the comments!
Not so much that the man is deemed untrustworthy or a liar …… but simply that the dog no longer views the pointing finger as meaningful.
I have always treated my dogs as if they are smarter than me. That way you always have to treat them with the utmost respect ALL the time!