The game of manipulation is one that has been on for ages among humans most especially. However, the rules of the game may have changed a little as the new claim is that your dog may be manipulating you. They have also learned.
This is according to a study that was carried out at the University of Portsmouth’s Dog Cognition Center. In the study, Dr. Juliane Kaminski attempted to see how the facial expressions of these best friends of humans change when humans are around.
To achieve this, she filmed dogs in different contexts and based on the result she got, there is enough to claim that “dogs are sensitive to humans’ attention and that expressions are potentially active attempts to communicate, not simple emotional displays,” Kaminski pointed out.
In the work, the researcher claimed that even though when dogs are fed they get very excited when humans are around, they do not show the same excitement when they are fed and no human is there. This has shown in 24 dogs in her study. In fact, they did not have any special expression when no one was watching.
“There is broad evidence that domestic dogs attend to a human’s attentional state, which is one indicator of intentionality,” the study stated, pointing out that it may be for the same reason that dogs tend to steal food when your back is turned on them, hence there is a place for intent.
On the other hand, the research is also quick to point out that apart from facial expression, it is not sure if the attention of humans towards the animals influences other aspects of their behaviors.
This may seem that the dogs are either trying to manipulate you because they are said to tailor their facial expressions differentially depending on their audience.
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While this has been stated, it could also be that our friends are only trying to communicate with us whenever our eyes are on them, and not necessarily trying to score some points off us.
