Do Dogs Read Human Emotion?

Pet industry professionals and pet parents have commonly asked whether dogs can read or understand human emotion. It’s incredibly convincing when your dog drops his ears when you’re angry or comes to see you when you’re sad. Your dog also appears to know when you’re playful or happy. Why is that? Are dogs empathetic, can they read human emotion, or are we way off on both accounts?

 

dog servicesDogs Can Read Facial Expressions

In a big step for the pet Industry and understanding dogs, Current Biology posted a study where they presented dogs with photos of parts of human faces. They did not present voices with the images. “We think the dogs in our study could have solved the task only by applying their knowledge of emotional expression in humans to the unfamiliar pictures we presented,” said Corsin Müller from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna.

In another study, individuals presented dogs with two photos of the same person’s entire face. One was angry, one was happy. The scientists covered either the mouth or the eyes one at a time and the dog responded, recognizing the anger or the happiness at a much higher rate than what could be accomplished with random guessing.

 

The Extent Is Not Known at this Time

While studies have been done in the pet industry to further understand dogs’ understanding of human behavior, they have not become advanced yet. The university doing the studies is only recently moving forward with further testing where they will show dogs more pictures, but a larger variety of emotions. As far as this institute is concerned, they have not moved on to testing tonal expressions or a human emotion and dog’s empathy.

 

Final Comments from Müller

“We expect to gain important insights into the extraordinary bond between humans and one of their favorite pets, and into the emotional lives of animals in general.”

 

dog_park_ownersClosing Thoughts

While the pet industry has involved itself greatly in the studies of animal understanding and behavior, we still don’t know everything there is to know about what dogs feel, think, or why the human-dog connection is such a strong one. Even without lab testing, the bond between humans and dogs is obvious. There’s a clear, innate, and intimate connection between humans and dogs which is obvious from the companionship that comes to us naturally.

Further studies are being done in the pet industry to better understand dogs. The University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna and its partners are working hard to better understand dogs, animal emotion, and the bond that we all share.

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Dog Idioms and Where They Came From

Dogs are part of our everyday life and society and they have been for so long, that they’ve even become part of our language. There are a handful of dog idioms that we all use on a day-to-day basis that can be applied to different situations from dog grooming to human problems. Here are some of the most common that we found:

dog groomingHair of the Dog that Bit You

Meaning: Using a remedy that contains a small amount of your ailment.

Nothing to do with dog grooming, this actually started out as a drinking idiom, where one would drink alcohol in order to cure their hangover. It can be dated back to a John Heywood text from 1546. It shifted in time as when people would cut themselves a piece of dog hair and place it over a dog-bite wound in belief that it would help prevent infection. Sometimes this hair would be cooked into an ointment and sometimes it was placed there by itself.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Meaning: Doing something or taking action in a satisfactory situation may case complexities or problems that wouldn’t normally happen.

This very old proverb is recorded as early as the 14th century France. It likely based off the premise that sleeping dogs (just like anyone else) can be startled if they aren’t alert when they are approached. Even the kindest, most friendly of dogs, when startled awake, can snap or bite at the perpetrator of the act. Let sleeping dogs lie is in reference to not disturbing a sleeping, happy dog, especially through surprise because their impulsive action could be unpredictably destructive, regardless of their normal disposition. Likewise, don’t mess with a dog new to dog grooming, ha.

The Tail Wagging the Dog

Meaning: An item of minor importance is dominating a larger situation.

You might find this happening to your dog after a good dog grooming. This expression is assumed to have originated from the United States. The earliest citation of this phrase being used is in a 1872 copy of The Daily Republican. It was used in a piece of fiction where a dim nobleman, twists the phrase around to report how he escaped the attention of a group of prostitutes.

Gone to the Dogs

dog grooming

Meaning: Anything decayed and worthless, not fit for humans. Particularly food.

This phrase can be dated back to a 1775 book known as the London Review of Literature which held the play Germanicus, A Tragedy where it was used in dialogue. Following that, in 18th or 19th century England, horse meat wasn’t considered suitable for humans to eat and would often be sent to the dogs instead. It is assumed that the phrase was preceded by ‘go to pot’, meaning toilet, and this kept the meaning of the phrase the exact same. Quite the opposite of gone to dog grooming.

Barking Up the Wrong Tree

Meaning: Making a false assumption or mistake in something you want to achieve.

This alludes to when a dog to something like chasing a squirrel up the tree and is so focused on barking at that tree, that he has not noticed the squirrel is not even in that tree anymore. It’s earliest printed record is in James Kirke Paulding’s Westward Ho! from 1832. Shortly after its publication, American citizens took to the phrase like water and populated the country with it. There’s often mud at the feet of those trees which means dog grooming. What happens when you figuratively bark up the wrong tree?

 

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