Life with a dog is full of joyful, if sometimes baffling, two-way conversations — and as their companions and caregivers, we know when they’re happy and sad.
Well, perhaps not it seems. According to new research, we might be misinterpreting what our dogs are really feeling.
A study from Arizona State University (ASU) reveals that humans often misunderstand their dogs’ emotions, largely because we judge their mood based on external context rather than their actual behavior.
In their paper published in Anthrozoös, researchers Holly Molinaro and Clive Wynne found that we project human emotions onto our pets, which can mean we misread them.
“People do not look at what the dog is doing,” Holly, an ASU PhD student in psychology and animal welfare scientist, explains. “Instead, they look at the situation surrounding the dog and base their emotional perception off that.”
To test this, the researchers ran two experiments. First, they showed people videos of dogs in different situations — some happy (treat time or a walk), some not so happy (mild telling off). Some people saw the full context of what was happening in the video, while others only saw the dog, with no background information.
In the second, they edited the videos so that a dog filmed in a happy moment looked like they were in a negative one, and vice versa. The result? People still judged the situation rather than the dog’s actual behavior.
“Our dogs are trying to communicate with us, but we humans seem determined to look at everything except the poor pooch himself,” says Clive, a psychology professor specializing in canine behavior.
“You see a dog getting a treat, you assume he must be feeling good. You see a dog getting yelled at; you assume he’s feeling bad. These assumptions of how you think the dog is feeling have nothing to do with the dog’s behavior or emotional cues.”
Another striking example was a dog reacting to a vacuum cleaner. “In our study, when people saw a video of a dog apparently reacting to a vacuum cleaner, everyone said the dog was feeling bad and agitated,” Holly continues. “But when they saw a video of the dog doing the exact same thing, but this time appearing to react to seeing his leash, everyone reported that the dog was feeling happy and calm. People were not judging a dog’s emotions based on the dog’s behavior, but on the situation the dog was in.”
It’s not just the surroundings tripping us up — we also have a habit of seeing our own emotions in our dogs. “I have always found this idea that dogs and humans must have the same emotions to be very biased and without any real scientific proof to back it up,” Holly says.
So, what’s the solution? Holly suggests dog owners take a step back. “The first step is just to be aware that we are not that good at reading dogs’ emotions,” she says. “We need to be humbler in our understanding of our dogs.”
She adds that every dog is unique. “Really pay attention to your own dog’s cues and behaviors.” That guilty look after you catch them trying to eat an extra treat — guilt or nervousness about getting told off? A little awareness goes a long way in strengthening our connection with our four-legged friends.
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