What ever is a dog to make of a human smile? Or a frown for that matter? On the one hand, it seems to me to be trivial for a dog to distinguish between obviously different expressions on the face of a human. Dogs, after all, are highly visual and the preponderence of their social communication is based on visual signals. But here’s the question I’ve always wondered about: What signals from our faces are salient to dogs?
My experience has suggested that dogs are exceptionally good at noticing (and interpreting) the following, whether done by a person or another dog: a still body versus a relaxed one, a hard, direct stare versus a soft or indirect gaze, and a loose, relaxed, open-mouth face versus one that has a tightly closed mouth. These are, obviously, signals that appear to be highly salient in canine communication, and my impression is that they transfer from one species to another. However, what of the signals that we humans consciously focus on, like smiles and frowns? Do dogs pay as much attention to them as we do? If so, what aspects of those expressions are salient? Members of both species may be aware of the difference between a look of mild irritation versus extreme anger, but we might be cuing on different things. Could we be focusing on the position of one’s eyebrows while dogs are primarily focused on the stiffness of the head and neck?
We know that people all over the world both express emotions on their faces in similar ways and also interpret them in the same way, no matter what their culture, native country or language group. (See the work of Paul Ekman, who has done over 30 years of research on the universality of human facial expressions, and helped me with my book For the Love of the Dog when I was writing about that issue.)
But we don’t know that much yet about how dogs interpret them. I’ve thought about this issue for years, (see my blog of 2010 on a related study) and so was especially interested in a study making the rounds late last week in Current Biology. Titled “Dogs Can Discriminate Emotional Expressions of Human Faces,” the study by Müller et. al. asked not just if the dogs could discriminate between “happy” faces and “angry” faces, but also if they could generalize what they’d seen from one part of the face to the other.
Here’s a summary of their study, taken from the study’s abstract:
“After learning to discriminate between happy and angry human faces in 15 picture pairs, whereby for one group only the upper halves of the faces were shown and for the other group only the lower halves of the faces were shown, dogs were tested with four types of probe trials: (1) the same half of the faces as in the training but of novel faces, (2) the other half of the faces used in training, (3) the other half of novel faces, and (4) the left half of the faces used in training. We found that dogs for which the happy faces were rewarded learned the discrimination more quickly than dogs for which the angry faces were rewarded. This would be predicted if the dogs recognized an angry face as an aversive stimulus. Furthermore, the dogs performed significantly above chance level in all four probe conditions and thus transferred the training contingency to novel stimuli that shared with the training set only the emotional expression as a distinguishing feature. We conclude that the dogs used their memories of real emotional human faces to accomplish the discrimination task.”
There’s lots of interesting information here, which makes the study far more interesting than one that just shows dogs can tell the difference between an angry face and a happy face. Note that the dogs were initially only shown the lower or upper half of the face (from photos on a computer screen) and could 1) generalize its visual features to the face of another person and 2) could generalize from the upper half of the face to the lower half. This is especially important, because it implies that dogs were learning more than a simple visual cue, and matching the emotion expressed by the bottom half of the face (with a big smile for example) to the upper half of the face, with open eyes and relaxed eyebrows. Especially interesting was the result that dogs learned the discrimination more quickly if they were rewarded for cuing on the “happy” face. We have to be careful about interpreting that result, but the author’s suggestion that the dogs recognized the angry faces as aversive is reasonable.
The author’s conclude by asking whether the dog’s abilities shown in the study were based on the dog’s experience as individuals, on selection pressures over time to select for dogs able to better interpret the expressions of humans, whether this ability is simply hard wired into many species of mammals and dogs happen to be one of them. (I would add that all three could potentially be occurring simultaneously.) I’m happy to say that the last few years have seen a flurry of studies related to visual communication between people and dogs. The research ranges from a study in Argentina by Jakovcevic et. al. that looked at whether breed affected how long dogs would look at their owner’s face without reinforcement (Retrievers did longer than Poodles or German shepherds), to one by Turcsán and colleagues at the Miklosi lab in Hungary, which found that if an owner had a happy expression while handling an object their dog was more likely to retrieve it.
Food for thought, yes? I anticipate that some will read this about this study and think “Well, what a waste of money! Of course we know that!” But actually, we don’t. I’d argue that this is exactly the kind of study we need to do, examining what we think might be true with what really is true. So kudos to Müller et. al. for doing this well-designed study. Can you see me smiling?
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Brrrrrr. It’s really, really cold out here. (May I mention, however, that I’m grateful we haven’t had 6 feet of snow in a few weeks like New England? I’d love to hear from any of you slammed by snow. How are you doing?!) Saturday’s high here in Wisconsin was about 6 Farenheit at the farm, but the problem was the wind. It was strong enough that you just couldn’t stay warm, no matter how bundled up you were. At least, I couldn’t, so much of the day was spent inside. All the dogs are learning new tricks, including “Find and nose-touch a white square any where in the room” (Willie), “Roll over” (Maggie), “Spin on a verbal cue only” (Tootsie). Nothing especially creative, but still fun. I’d say after a few sessions that the only thing warm on the farm was the clicker, which always sees a lot of use from me when it’s crazy cold outside.
No wind today, so even though it’s cold you just need the right clothes to be comfortable outside. (You know that saying? There’s no bad weather, just bad clothes? I’m in agreement, except when it’s windy.) The BCs and I took a nice long walk in the woods just now, me armed with my camera and the lesson from my Contemplative Photography class to see the world in a new way. Here’s what I came up with:
Kat says
I always find these kind of studies fascinating. Ranger with the advantages of excellent socialization and a sunny disposition is a master at reading people. He knows happy, sad, angry, glad, and can easily tell if someone wants to meet him, does not want to meet him, or can be coaxed into meeting him. Finna, on the other hand, with a generally more high strung and suspicious disposition and no socialization seems to have only in the last year/year and an half figured out that people’s faces contain useful information. She has always been intensely aware of body posture when it comes to people but it never seemed like facial expression entered into her assessment. Someone bending over to tie a shoe was cause for great alarm even if it was clear from facial expression that they were paying no attention to her. In the last 12-18 months she’s started first shying away from someone bending to tie and shoe and then reassessing the situation based on other factors (I think facial expression but haven’t tried to verify it scientifically). It has made having her out in the yard much more enjoyable since she no longer over reacts to neighbors doing things because she can tell they aren’t interested in her.
Meanwhile, we are having spring where I am. I have crocus blooming everywhere, daffs about to bloom, and one rather confused peach tree has buds all over it. I keep telling them all that this is an aberration and they should wait but the high 50/low 60 degree weather is calling to them and none of my plants are listening to me. So I’m luxuriating in the spring feel as well.
Barbara says
I remember reading that dogs watch us much more than we watch them. Remind me of that in obedience class. But at home it seems whenever I look up from what I’m doing one or both dogs is watching me. Maybe looking for a hint that we’re going outside or it’s time to eat? Nah, must mean they love me.
Here in the Pacific Northwest we are experiencing an extremely warm winter. OK, I don’t want six feet of snow either, but we’ve had only a couple of weeks of freezing weather and haven’t had any snow in the lowlands. We had some sixty degree days in January. Weird winter.
I like your ideas for trick training. Reminded me I need to get out the clicker and treats and keep the dogs’ brains busy.
Vera Stewart says
Love to read your writing. Thank you.
Carolyn H. says
10 years ago, when I was training my very astute Belgian Malinois puppy, we faced a problem with the “stay”. She was so quick and accurate with every other exercise. Why did she break the stay a few seconds before I clicked her? The problem continued despite all the ways I tried to communicate what I wanted. Many good trainers observed us and couldn’t help. Finally a friend zeroed in on the issue. The click wasn’t the reward marker. My smile was!
Mary Beth Stevens says
Here in glorious Massachusetts we are running out of places to put our 6+ feet of snow. The weather conditions are truly extreme. We live in a rural/suburban area, those in the city of Boston are REALLY experiencing difficult times. Thank goodness the newest member of our family (a 12.5 pound chihuahua/beagle/who-knows-what,) a rescue dog from Tennessee, has shown what she’s made of and is fierce with delight when it comes to going out in the snow. After the most recent 17 inches, I finally abandoned the shoveled dog run I had established for her. Just couldn’t keep it up…A nearby park has a plowed road and parking area aNd that’s where we get our exercise.
Francoise Maxwell says
Interesting studies. The one part of the equation that studies tend to ignore is the scent/pheromones that humans give off. Dogs use their noses a lot more than we realize. It would be interesting to see the results of a study where say happy facial expressions are mixed with angry or scared scent. I see where is could be hard to control exactly for the scents though.
Vicki in Michigan says
I read about dogs & human facial expressions on the Smithsonian website yesterday. (Smithsonianmag.com) I was very interested that they showed the dogs pictures, rather than actual humans. I’ve always wondered to what extent dogs can smell our emotions…. It was interesting to me (but not a surprise) to learn that they can tell from looking at pictures.
Dogs’ own faces are so expressive. It doesn’t surprise me a bit that they can tell how we feel, just from looking at our faces (or even parts of our faces!). I bet that, over all, they are better at that than we are. So many people are utterly clueless about how their dogs feel. I have had a person tell me that their dog, in a totally stiff and assertive posture — up on toes, ears forward, tail straight up — barking at me from the public sidewalk when I am on my own driveway “is very friendly.” Um. No. He is NOT acting “friendly” AT ALL……….. Something tells me that person would have no clue how people are feeling, either…….
“But his tail is wagging” — well, yes, it’s moving (stiffly), but that does NOT indicate he’s in a happy/friendly state of mind………………….. No dog would mistake that dog for “friendly”……..
Terry Golson says
How are we doing in New England? I like to think of the deep snow that my horse is standing in as “cold therapy” for his legs. My goats are delighted, as they are terribly bored – they can’t wade through the snow taller than them to forage – and I am over-feeding them hay to keep them busy and warm. The pet rabbit is gleeful in her snow tunnels. The chickens are annoyed but laying. The dogs? They’ll sleep in front of the fire until mud season.
Thanks for your take on this study. It is fascinating stuff.
Susan says
Here in Maine we have a lot of snow. My terrier loves it, but since we live in Portland, we have the problem of sidewalks (many are maintained by homeowners and not the city) having been treated with some kind of chemical melting agent that is not dog friendly. So our walks are in and out of snowbanks, on the streets, whatever it takes to avoid tender paws!
I enjoy your blog and have been reading it on and off for several years. Thank you for sharing such wonderful photos of your farm and family.
Carolyn K says
Trisha, in the abstract for the Argentina study, they don’t specify what kind of “retriever” was in the study. I know that frequently the term “retriever” is used for Golden Retrievers and “Labrador” for Labrador Retrievers, is this the case here?
Milissa says
I agree whole heartedly with the need for this research! And I’d love to see it extended to looking into dogs that sense epileptic seizures and such. I agree with those that mention smell as well and think that how dogs read us probably is multifaceted. As someone who lives with a family member who suffers from bipolar disorder, I’m convinced this research could benefit far more people than we imagine. I say this because within the last couple of years I noticed that one of my dogs behaves differently with my husband when he is struggling with his disorder. She seems to sense it before either he or I have noticed and it doesn’t seem to matter whether the struggle is stress induced or the result of a missed dose of medicine. Sometimes I think I must be an insensitive lout, but then I watch how brilliant she is at reading sheep and think it is the result of a long line of breeding that she possesses such abilities! I’ve also learned that she is capable of telling if I’m upset with her even though I change my time of voice and try to smile! She has a sense for tension that goes farther than just facial expression and vocal tone. I find that I really have to bring my yoga practice into play and truly relax for her to relax and be receptive sometimes. Unless were working cattle, then she doesn’t much care how I feel! Okay, not really, but I do think which stock we’re working changes things. When working cattle I think she had to draw on her own inner strength and bravery much more, so she pays somewhat less attention to my emotion. Long and rambling, sorry, but I find the topic so fascinating and to have so many repercussions in the lives of those of us that share our work as well as leisure with these noble creatures!
Susan says
I’m one of the lucky ones living in PEI Canada, where we just got 2 1/2 – 3 feet of snow on Sunday, with hurricane force winds. Both my back doors into the fenced yard were completely buried and I had to dig at the top until I could stand on a chair and push my 66-year-old rump out to get at my snowblower. The drifts are all over 8 feet high with weird little bare spots in places and I dug a path from the door to a bare spot for a dog bathroom. Which brings me to one of the worst mistakes I’ve made in dog ownership. I have three dogs, two standard poodles and an elderly Jack Russell. My young poodle was so happy to finally be outside that he leaped one of the snowbanks in a single bound and took off, over the buried fences and gone. The older poodle wasn’t going to stand for that so he leaped the bank and took off after him. Recall? Not likely, they’d been cooped up too long. They eventually came back but not until far too long for my nerves. So after that, the young fellow was leashed to go out. And he wouldn’t go. And wouldn’t go. Because my yard is fenced, he’s never learned to do his business on a leash and it was almost like he thought it was a shameful thing. It took about 24 hours and a good walk (when I could finally get down the road) and he finally gave in and stood at my feet and peed for about 5 minutes. And looked so embarrassed. Poor dog! I lived in an apartment behind my store when I got the other two and walked them three or four times a day, so they learned to go when they could. I got the pup after I bought a house and fenced the yard, and got lazy about dog walking, so I’ve learned my lesson. At the expense of my poor pup!
Jana says
I have had personal experience with my competition obedience mastiff and reading my facial expressions. At the utility level of obedience competition, the dog has been trained to such a high degree of reading and reacting to the slightest shift of body movement and signals to accurately respond and compete successfully at the highest levels.
My mastiff struggled with confidence doing scent article discrimination. If I had a neutral, more pleasant expression on my face he’d look up to check with me and relax. I’d inadvertently trained him that if I had a tight or strained expression, he was at the wrong article.
Then I developed Meige Syndrome, a focal dystonia that would cause my face muscles to spasm. The 1st few times in the ring if my face spasmed while he was working articles, his stress response increased. Then my neurologist started treating my face with botox injections which resulted in a crooked smile and expression. That made his stress response even worse. Once we got the symptoms under control and addressed the side-effect of the treatment, his performance on articles improved.
Susan S. says
I’m guessing that Carolyn H’s insight about maintaining a stay isn’t uncommon. A few years ago, in an instructors class, Sallie was having trouble with the long stay. As I turned to face her she would break & come to me. When I lost patience & turned & glared at her her ears flew back & she sat glued until I offered a happy release. After that I gave her a tight lipped, brow furrowed you’d-better-do-this-right look every time. Another trainer gave me grief for making faces at my dog, but boy did it work.
Beth says
Reposting from my phone, since my work computer seems to eat my posts.
Frigid here too. We had your Saturday weather on Sunday.
I do know that my Jack (who I think was separated from Kat’s Ranger at birth) will go up to anyone who smiles at him and ignore anyone who does not when we are out on a walk. I also know that he watches my face all the time when I am talking to him, even though he is trained on hand signals as well as verbal cues. He does not watch my hands but my face; he must pick up the hand signals with his peripheral vision. So whatever is going on in my face is exceptionally important to him.
Madison, who is not quite so socially astute, picked up my unintentional signal that a smile was a release cue; I must have consistently smiled before I said “OK” and I never made the connection, but she did. Our one-hour CGC class was about 20 minutes too long for Maddie; she is an easily distracted dog and focusing on me for that long was HARD for her. We were practicing sit-stays near the end of one class. She was visibly wilting on her sit– sinking into the ground, ears starting to droop. She looked so sad but was trying so hard to be good that I held her on her stay but smiled at her. And she immediately got up, looking relieved “Oh thank goodness we are done! Mom smiled!”
To the best of my knowledge, nothing changed but my facial expression. I was holding her with my traffic-cop hand-forward body stance, so I doubt my posture changed at all.
I absolutely believe does learn our facial expressions, though I’m not sure they always interpret them to mean what we do. But they are important to dogs.
Beth says
I should add that Jack very intentionally refuses to look at my face when he is being willful. Is it for the same reason a person won’t look you in the eye if they are about to disappoint you? He is an honest dog and a well behaved one. He never sneaks off. If he is going to ignore me, it’s blatant. But when he does, he won’t watch my face at all and looks the other way if I try to get in his line of sight.
Jackie D says
Fascinating… I wonder if this is one reason why dogs ‘work’ differently in different environments – it’s not just the not generalising issue. For example, I do really enjoy scentwork class, but I am concentrating hard, so I bet I have a different expression on my face than when I’m goofing around with the dogs and some target scents at home.
Nina Worthe says
Anyone else have a dog that imitates facial expressions? My Talos will open her mouth if you open yours, blink, frown, smile (pull her jowls up and expose teeth, but not a snarl, just pulling a face), even stick out her tongue copying the person in front of her. Not everyone’s mind you, but mine and my husband’s.
Seems pretty clear they at least look at our faces, and gather something from them.
Frances says
Sophy is another one who watches faces while we are out walking, and politely approaches friendly strangers. She is so good at graciously accepting their homage that there are times I feel like one of the Queen’s ladies in waiting, following several steps behind to carry the posies and cards of well wishers… Sophy learned early on that whatever it might mean in dog etiquette, a penetrating gaze into human eyes is the way to get and hold attention, so that she can beam her thoughts directly into the human brain. And she is very good at that too! She has taught me that the steady gaze is followed by the tiniest eye flick to what she wants fixing – an occupant removing from her favourite spot, her bed plumping up, a treat retrieving from a particularly inaccessible cranny – and muggins, of course, obliges!
Deirdre Curran says
I have had a local dog walking business since 2003. Several years back, I woke up one morning with Bell’s Palsy and the entire left side of my face was frozen. My eye wouldn’t close (I couldn’t blink), and all the muscles were slack. I could only half smile, the left side of my mouth didn’t move, when I talked it was only out of the right side of my mouth. I had no facial expression at all on the left side of my face – although I could make all my usual facial expressions on the right side of my face. The first day I got to the houses to walk the dogs -all of whom knew me and saw me every day – they were ALL clearly stunned and very confused when I walked in the door. It was the usual time of day, it was dressed like me, sounded like me, smelled like me and otherwise looked like me, but every single one of those dogs stopped dead in their tracks that day when running to greet me when they got a look at my face. Some ran away from me, others just stood there for a minute or longer staring at me and studying my face intently trying to figure out what was going on, even as I talked to them. Several stared looking back and forth from one side of my face to the other while I was smiling and encouraging them to come to me to leash up. A couple got over it quickly (I had the Bell’s Palsy for about eight weeks and it didn’t start to visually subside until around the third week) and seemed to shrug it off within a couple of minutes and get on with business as usual. A couple of them took a few days to stop being confused when I first arrived for the day, and one of them was still weirded out by it on Week 2 (he had a lot of other issues). But EVERY SINGLE DOG noticed the oddity and my sudden inability to offer up the facial expressions they knew in me so well. They ALL registered the change in my face and my ability to form the same expressions as usual. That was when I fully understood just how much dogs do indeed rely on visuals, and how much they do in fact focus on our own human faces and facial expressions in order to “read” us for communication. It was a real eye-opener! (pun intended – I couldn’t blink get it? My left eye was stuck wide open…)
Milissa says
Having slept on the topic, and being a rumenative thinker, I am really excited to see this research. I think it will be very interesting, and helpful in so many ways if we can ever sort out exactly what information dogs get from us visually, via our facial and body muscles, etc., aurally (is that a word?) through or voice as well as things like our breathing (I say this because I suspect one way my dog knows if I’m truly happy or not is whether my breathing is relaxed and natural or not), and through scent (thinking about how our sweat smells different when we’re stressed, pheromones, etc.). It could change how we train therapy dogs in a big way, as well as helping handlers know what to look for in their dogs (and/or patients), and how to help the dogs, when involved in therapy… or any other endeavor really.
Trisha says
My sympathies to all of you doused in snow. Susan’s story from PEI Canada makes it clear what that much snow means. I mean, really–when you have to stand on a chair and force your way out the top of the doorway just to get outside… Well, that’s snowy for sure. We’ve had relatively little snow all winter, but plenty of very cold weather. Right now it’s 2 degrees Farenheit and breezy. I heard the wild chills were under 20 below; all I can say is I skipped a dog walk and just finished a trick training session in toasty study. (And to Kat: Spring? Holy moly, I can’t even imagine. Although it sounds earlier than it should be, killer hard on flowering plants and fruit trees.
I’ve been fascinated, absolutely riveted by some of your comments. Deidre’s and Jana’s comments about their dog’s reaction to their facial paralysis has had me thinking all day about the perfect experiment (not to mention sympathy for the Bell’s Palsy). What if we could temporarily and safely paralyze different parts of the face (we can do that, yes, anyone know?) and observe how dogs respond. To familiar people, to unfamiliar people? To frozen mouths but not eyes, etc etc. I am not surprised by the reaction of Deidre’s dogs, but still, I find it fascinating.
I also have found that a direct stare has a significant effect on something like a stay cue. And I love the description of Beth’s dog Jack who won’t look her in the face when he is not responding to her signals. Made me smile; clever Jack, right?
And to Nina, oh my! I have never known of a dog who imitated facial expressions! Would you put it up on Youtube? I would be fascinated to see it. (And you’d go viral in seconds, I’d bet the bank on it.)
Jackie D hit on something important I think: That one of the reasons dogs don’t perform as well in unfamiliar environments is that our facial expressions change. Of course, so do other things (posture, voice), but I agree that surely our facial expressions change too. Loved that Carolyn H’s Malanois broke the stay to her smile, not the clicker. Clever clever dog!
Beth says
Trisha, when Jack does that all I can think of is the young child who sticks his fingers in his ears and sings “La la la, I can’t hear you!” when you try to tell him something he doesn’t want to hear.
And I am again reminded of the old adage that those who say they want a smart dog have perhaps never had one. 😉
em says
I, too, am loving these fascinating comments!
My dogs definitely respond to facial expression and eye contact in predictable ways. Sandy is obvious about it- watching our faces very closely. It can sometimes be a challenge-I often have to back up to get her to see a cue gesture because her eyes are absolutely glued to my face if we’re doing trick training.
Otis is a much more subtle face watcher, but arguably much more constant one. Not only does Otis read facial expressions very easily but he obviously dislikes it when strange people wear clothing that obscures their faces (hoodies, low brimmed hats, winter coats with puffy hoods), tensing and staring at them as he would not do with people whose faces were easily visible. He gets more relaxed about it by midwinter, but he still watches the hooded and well-muffled folks we meet much more closely than the cold and windburned :-). He doesn’t react the same way to well-known people in masks, scarves, or hoods, but treats them normally.
After nearly seven years, he is much more likely to gaze steadily at my face if he wants something than he did when he was first adopted (when he almost never looked directly into anyone’s face for any reason- we couldn’t even teach him a look-at-me without causing him obvious distress). However (apologies, since I’ve mentioned this before), he WAS paying so much attention to my facial expression, all the while he was giving the impression that he never looked at my face, that I was able to teach him to fetch using eye contact and facial expression as a reinforcer.
To be fair, on the extreme ends (moving close to me with the ball meant cheering as well as smiles and dropping the ball meant that I’d turn my back) it wasn’t completely facial, but most of his training sessions were spent in the middle (holding the ball and moving toward me- smiling and soft constant eye contact vs. holding the ball and moving away- neutral unsmiling expression and eyes flicked away over his shoulder.) It took my (admittedly extremely smart, and at the time freshly adopted and very clingy) great dane with absolutely no instinctive fetching drive two sessions, maybe fifteen minutes total, to learn to fetch. You could have knocked me over with a feather.
In hindsight, I’m very glad Otis’ willingness to make and hold direct eye contact has developed slowly over time, as our trust bond has deepened. Obedience class (an unmitigated disaster for a variety of reasons) was frustrating, but in the vein of being careful what you wish for (you are so right, Beth!), Otis’ eye contact is practically a physical force. Sandy’s hopeful staring is hard enough to withstand. In a dog as large and confident as Otis, a laserbeam gaze is almost irresistible. It’s not just me, either. He uses it to command dogs (he did THAT right off the bat) and people so effortlessly (Stay Back, Move Aside, Follow Me, Go That Way, Give Me That) that I catch people we’ve only just met dancing to his tune all the time. I’d say it’s like the corollary to this blog topic- Not only is Otis extremely good at reading human eye contact and facial expressions, he’s extremely good at communicating to humans with his own.
liz says
I wonder about the ages of dogs used in the study and the authors asking whether the ability to interpret expressions is based on experience and/or genetics and/or hard-wired. I read the abstracts of the different studies but there was no mention of age. I wonder how the expression recognition results would vary from a four month old pup to an eight year old dog, and whether or not any variation would help clarify the origin. My own hunch is that since humans often reinforce eye contact from an early age, we do have some influence in how much attention is paid to our faces, if only as extensions of our eyes. I suppose that even if some of the behavior is learned, the willingness to observe facial/body language in the first place could be predisposed, and that all three could be factors indeed. But, I guess we could just be making something more advantageous that dogs would’ve done anyway. So interesting, more studies please.
Kat says
I noticed this morning that when I’m leaving the dogs at home and going somewhere by myself I don’t look directly at them and they both know that if I’m not looking at them they should just resign themselves to my absence. It’s one of the things I do to communicate with them.
Sean Farrow says
This, and it’s linked material was a great read, so thank you.
Enjoy the cold, I miss it terribly. We’re in Melbourne, Australia, where it’s perpetually like southern Florida (aka: miserably hot and humid) with a 12-week old Frenchy/pug X puppy who’s killing me with outdoor time in this heat.
Gwen G. says
Curious studies, both clinical and personal experiences. The many dogs in my life, have been able, after being with them for months, seemingly “sent me a mental picture” of their empty food or water bowl. This article has made me realize that it is probably more of the direct stare with the “flick glance” to the item needing attention, written about above. My husband had been involved in training dogs and other animals, wild and domesticated (wolves to chickens), most of his life. It was natural to him by the time the kids came to be. As a result, we all knew the commands for our animals, tone and volume of voice-feigned or natural, posture, whistles and hand signals. Goats to milking stancions, keeping chickens calm while gathering eggs, to dogs rounding up various stock. Clicks, whistles, hand signals, commands… I knew facial expressions were important and I know people expressions are very different than a dog’s or other animal. Animals are also vocal, the deep sigh when they are totally relaxed and it’s human time to perform a task, my current dog sings for extended periods, when I get home after being gone any length of time, when it is time for my daughter to take her home for meals and overnight (we share our dog, the best parts of sensitive children that take their dog to their own homes after they are adults), when the cats at home have particularly pestered her all night. She has things to say, and we enjoying hearing about it. I’m going to be very intently watching her when I make faces. My kids have always played hide and seek with our dogs, saying “Boo!” and “Gotcha!), then laughing heartfelt belly laughs with delight that they have shared something wonderful between species. Yesterday I played with her, when she found me, I noticed she actually had her mouth open, in a relaxed, laugh-imitating gesture without the human sound. I believe any animal that can play and enjoys, seeks, and initiates games is sencient. I respect their choice making and speak for their justice and rights as recognizable beings.
Thank you so much for your article, I will seek out your other posts today.
Bonnie Hensley says
I used to play a little game with Buddy, our lab/aussie (died in ’13). Sometimes he’d be standing by my knees looking intently at me, his face relaxed. I’d frown, and his ears would drop a bit. Then I’d give him a big smile, and his ears would perk up and he’d smile back. Sometimes I’d just raise my eyebrows, and get the same reaction as the smile. Was fun to watch his reactions.
diane says
After reading the blog topic, I did a similar experiment as Bonnie did with her Buddy. I covered the lower half of my face with a sheet of paper and smiled…. Got a tail wag and happy face. I then frowned…got a look away. It is fun! (not scientific but fun!).
Scent wouldn’t enter into this fun experiment (unless when I smiled and frowned my chemicals changed quickly…which they may for all I know), but I would never discount scents’ importance. Reading Deidra and Jana’s blog (and others) – dogs read body language and react to what is not in their “norm” (stated the obvious, I know). My poor dog – I have no clue what I must be imparting!
Jana says
On the other hand, sometimes our dogs are so attuned to us they seem to read our minds. When I first developed the Meige Syndrome, I was also trialing a different mastiff for his UDX title. In the Open & Utility Ring qualifying in both on the same day to get a leg (need 10 legs). My eyelids would spasm shut and I was effectively blind. My jaw would clench shut so I couldn’t speak. The first time this happened with Drake in Utility, we were ok because everything was signals, except the glove exercise. I’d just follow the judges voice from exercise to exercise and was relaxed and confident in my dog. I would listen for his movement to know when to give the next signal. He qualified that day in both rings. As we were to leave, I gathered up my things and headed to the door, still blind, using my ears to judge where we were and made it out the door. I just planned on heading to the parking lot feeling my way on the sidewalk with my foot when Drake started pulling me along right to my van’s tailgate. He just took care of me. Our dogs ability read us and correctly interpret what to do when is amazing. And no, I didn’t leave until the spasms had stopped and it was safe to drive 🙂
em says
@Jana,
What an amazing story! I was fascinated by your observations of your first mastiff, but Drake’s story gave me goosebumps! How brave of you to stay calm in that situation and how wonderful that Drake was so ready to step up with the assist. Thank you for sharing this.
Trisha says
Jana: I am gobsmacked that you were able to qualify a dog in the ring when your jaw was clenched shut and you were functionally blind! And thanks again for telling us this story; I knew nothing about Meige syndrome and am fascinated at how you and your dogs are coping with it. Inspiring!
Valpekurs says
There are things that only dog can understand. Dog can sense what we feel. It depends on the connection both of you had build up.