Can Dogs Tell If You’re A Bad Person? The Answer Is Fascinating

by pawbuzz on in Dogs 390

Have you ever noticed that your dog seems to react strangely to certain people?

It’s not uncommon for dog owners to notice that their dogs don’t like particular people, although sometimes it’s unclear why.

Your perfectly well-behaved dog can suddenly start barking angrily at a stranger, or refuse to take a treat from a friend who comes to visit. It’s always surprising, but usually dog owners just write it off as their dog being weird.

Interestingly, there’s actually a scientific reason your dog may randomly act strangely toward certain people — they can tell if someone is a bad person!

If you own a dog, you probably know that they’re pretty intuitive creatures who have good judgment.

The fact that they can tell if someone is a good or bad person may not surprise you, but it’s fascinating to learn more about how researchers tested dogs’ judgment.

If you’ve ever noticed that your dog reacts negatively toward certain people, there’s actually scientific evidence that it may be because they recognize that they’re a bad person.

Researchers tested the hypothesis that dogs can tell if people are being mean to one another.

An article published in Neuroscience and Behavioural Reviews claims that dogs can recognize when someone is being a good person, and are particularly adept at realizing when people are being horrible to one another.

To perform the study, researchers had dog owners act out two separate scenarios while their dogs watched.

In the first scenario, the dog owner struggled to open a container, then asked two researchers to help. One researcher helped, while the other stood by passively.

In the second scenario, the dog owner again struggled with a container and asked for help. One researcher watched passively, but the other actively refused to help.

After both scenarios, researchers offered the dog a treat.

In the first scenario, the dog was just as likely to take a treat from the passive researcher as the helpful researcher.

In the second scenario, however, the dog was much more likely to ignore the treat from the person who was mean to their owner (refused to help).

The researchers concluded that dogs can tell when someone is being mean to another person, then they react accordingly.

So if your dog ever refuses to take a treat from someone for seemingly no reason, they may actually think that they’re a bad person.

Do you think your dog has good intuition and judgment?

If you love learning about dogs, please SHARE this article with your friends and family!

[H/T Country Living]



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390 thoughts on “Can Dogs Tell If You’re A Bad Person? The Answer Is Fascinating”

  14. LaVerne Sepulveda

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    Rosa, I am judging by my own personal experiences with the dogs I have had, especially my Basset and my Collie. In the ten years I had him there were only two people that my Basset didn’t like, growled at, and they BOTH turned out to be bad people. My Collie only disliked one person in the 14 years I had her, and the results were the same. That is the criteria I use. I would never trust anyone that a dog doesn’t like. I realize this is only my opinion, but it is what it is.

  27. Rosa Scott

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    I do think that dogs are very good at reading body language, some better than others. I have known dogs that don’t like anybody and those that like everybody. Like people, some may just have a talent for it. You seem to have had talented dogs. Maybe some breeds are better at reading people than others.

  36. LaVerne Sepulveda

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    Rosa, I most definitely was blessed to have talented dogs. They were both gifts from God at times I really needed them. I got my Collie less than a month after I had to have my precious Basset put down due to cancer. I named that sweet little girl Angel, because I know she was the angel that God sent to help me with my grief at losing Morgan. I wouldn’t trade those 24 years of love for anything in this world. They were both loyal, loving, funny, silly, goofy members of my family—they fit in perfectly!!! 🙂

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