Humans barking on the wrong tree when it comes to understanding dogs – expert

Dog’s facial muscle anatomy has evolved in a way that improves communication with humans.
Photo: 123rf

Many dog ​​owners will say they can read how their dogs are feeling – but can they? Do our canine friends really feel guilty when they are caught eating the cat’s food?

Researcher Dr. Juliane Kaminski, an associate professor of comparative psychology at the University of Portsmouth, showed that dog muscle anatomy has evolved in a way that improves communication with humans.

“We believe they have evolved muscles that create facial movements that are especially attractive to humans,” she told RNZ’s Sunday morning – For example, the look of the ‘puppy’.

“There is a certain specific eyebrow movement that dogs produce, which seems to us a little sadly … We found it very cute, we find it very attractive and nourish the dog even more if they are kind of producing this movement.

“But we do not necessarily think that dogs are sad at that time. It is simply a movement that has evolved because we practically respond to it. We find it attractive and probably we have probably selected unconsciously, so that the favorite dogs that have this movement, produce this movement …

“It’s the dog’s gaze where they kind of raise their eyebrows, and we just can’t resist it.”

A study in which she was involved in “dogs that produce this movement more are adopted faster.”

“We analyzed the behavior of dogs when they find adopting potential and analyzed everything, and wanted to see how long dogs are in the shelter? And this somehow depends on the behavior they produce when they find a person?

“And what we found is that, in fact, nothing matters. Therefore, no matter how much they regret, how much they regret or something. All that mattered was how often they produce this eyebrow movement.”

Wolves, relatives close to dogs, do not have the ability to produce this look, she said.

Otherwise, humans were very poor in determining the mood of a dog.

“I think we’re just falling into traps, where we simply apply things that are working to our own species, and simply apply them to a different species.”

Anguished dogs, for example, were often seen as happy – especially by children.

“This is a really important reminder for all parents out there [with] A dog at home. Especially young children are not really good at reading facial dog expressions, so they make very significant mistakes.

“There is research out there showing that they interpret an image that presented a growing dog, how to really show their teeth and everything, and they respond to it by saying, ‘Oh, I want to embrace that dog because it looks very happy.’ And that, of course, can really lead to accidents and very serious problems.”

Another common gesture that humans interpret poorly is the shaken tail, said Kaminski.

Juliane Kaminski.
Photo: University of Portsmouth

“There is the idea that a dog that shakes its tail is always happy and always friendly … and this is wrong, so it is incorrect. So we have to interpret the whole body to some extent, and we have to interpret the tail posture and whether it is relaxed or or rigid, etc.

“In essence, the shaken tail simply means that the dog is awakened over something that can be positive or negative.”

One way to get a better sense of the dog’s intention is whether the tail is rigid (probably not happy) or relaxed (possibly happy).

Dog attacks, Kaminski said, usually come with warnings in advance that humans simply do not notice.

“There are often subtle signs that the dog is trying to give to indicate that it needs more space or that it is not comfortable in the situation, or that it is stressed – and these signs are simply neglected.

“How to avoid glances, for example, it’s very typical – trying to create distance with your body posture, all these kinds of things are forgotten – and then for people being attacked, this attack can suddenly get out of nowhere because you didn’t see all the small signs the dog was trying to give.”

And when a dog looks guilty? Kaminski said they are just trying to avoid the owner’s gaze.

“What we think is really happening is that the dog experienced beforehand, was rebuked for things that happened – was shouted for any reason – so that the dog is not interpreting the situation [and] Thinking, ‘Oh, I did something, I’m guilty of something, but it’s reading the owner’s body posture.

“So when the dog steals the cat’s food and is scolded and walks away looking guilty, the dog is not feeling guilty – [it] Just don’t want to be punished. So the dog eat the cat’s food well the next time you are not there, basically. “

As for how the average dog owner can improve communication with her pet, Kaminski said it was “simply accepting that dogs are different species and really learn their tongue.”

“There is a lot of dog literature out there. There are sites that are describing and explaining the behavior of dogs, communication for dogs, all this kind of thing.”

But avoid social media, she said.

“What, what is happening at the moment on social media, I think it is, in a sense, really problematic, because it continues to emphasize this idea that dogs are very similar to young children, and do the same things, feel the same feelings and we have to treat them as young children – and that’s wrong.

“We have to really understand that dogs are a different species, with different needs and a different way of communicating.”

One day she expected AI to tell owners exactly what her pets are thinking. But until then, she agreed that it would probably be correct to say that dogs read us better than we read them.

SUBSCRIBE TO NGā Pytopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter Curated by our editors and deliver it directly to your inbox every day of the week.