So how well do dogs read cues in their humans? They read cues so well that scientists are still astounded at their findings. They just can't find a reason as to how and why! Here's the scoop on some of their research below:
For decades, scientists have been studying “social cognition” in dogs. This simply refers to how well dogs read cues in the behaviour of others. As humans, we do this automatically.
The experimental set-up used to test for such perception in animals is quite simple. Start with two inverted bucketlike containers. Place a morsel of food under one of them while the subject of the test is out of sight. Of course you must make sure that both containers have been rubbed with the food so that there is no scent difference. Now bring the subject in and give some sort o social cue to indicate which bucket actually contains the food.
The real surprise came when a team led by Robert Hare of Harvard University ran the same test on dogs. The dogs could immediately interpret the signals indicating the location of the food four times better than the apes, and more than twice as well as the young children, even if the experimenter was a stranger.
With the experimental evidence driving wooden stakes through the hearts of the two most obvious explanations, we are still left with the question: where do dogs get their superior ability to read human signals from?
Unfortunately the scientific jury is still out. We simply don't have enough data to decide whether humans deliberately chose dogs that could better understand our social signals, or whether this ability is a “hitchhiker” trait that came along on the evolutionary ride to domestication. Regardless, this is yet more proof that our domestic dog is not merely an urban-dwelling wolf that has learned to sport a veneer of civilization in order to get free room and board. Rather, the dog is a separate species that has evolved, or more precisely co-evolved, with humans.
Given the fact that we started this discussion with every dog owner's presumption-as an article of faith and observation- that our pet dogs understand our body language and signals, I simply could not end my interview with Hare without asking, “Won't dog people think that this research finding is obvious?”
“I had the same reaction,” he replied. “I knew that people would say, ‘Of course dogs understand this kind of thing!' But it's one thing to say it and another to go and demonstrate it. The people who were really surprised were the scientists-not the lay people.”
It's no surprise that dogs understand our cues with no explanation as to why (just read up on this more on Modern Dog Magazine). Pugs are smart doggies and they share a special bond with their owners! In the future when scientists continue to research this rare phenomenon, don't be surprised if they never find an exact reason to as to why dogs understand our body language to a cue. We know why our pups are so smart — they have unconditional love and know how to show it!
