One of your fellow blog readers alerted us to a study recently published in Behavioral Processes titled “Disambiguating the “guilty look” by Alexandra Horowitz. It is a creative and well-designed study that supports what trainers, ethologists and behaviorists have been saying for years: “No, your dog isn’t expressing guilt when he cowers at the door when you come home to find he’s peed on the carpet. Rather, he’s waving a white flag, perhaps to inhibit you from punishing him any further, and is responding to YOUR behavior rather than expressing guilt at his earlier actions.”
Here’s a summary of the study: 14 dogs and owners participated, and only dogs who were able to successfully perform a sit/stay were included. The owner was instructed to place the dog on a sit/stay, and then show the dog a treat and use whatever cue they would normally employ to forbid the dog to take the treat (I’m assuming “no” or “leave it”). The treat was placed at the same distance from the dog in each trial, and then the owner left the room.
When the owner returned the treat was always off the floor. The experimenter either picked up the treat and gave it to the dog, or picked it up and kept it herself. When the owner returned, he or she was informed by the experimenter if the dog had been obedient or not (not necessarily accurately). If the owner was told the dog had been obedient, the owner was been told to greet the dog on their return. However, if they were told that the dog had been disobedient, they were told to scold the dog in whatever way they would normally do. (Note that one potential pair was eliminated because the owner refused to scold the dog. Interesting. What would you have done? I think I would have participated to support the research, but kept my ‘scolding’ to the disappointed voice I use sometimes: “Oh Mr. Will…. what did you do?” It’s quiet and low key and yet Willie’s ears go down and his face changes in a way I want to call “concerned.” Needless to say, I never do it “after the fact,” but I probably would have in this case because of my interest in the results of the study. I don’t think it would have set Willie back in any substantial way, but if I thought it would I wouldn’t have considered it.)
In the study, each dog/owner pair was given 9 trials, two control trials in which the dog was allowed to eat the treat, and others in which the owner was correctly informed or mis-informed about whether the dog ate the treat or not.
The dog’s behavior was video taped and later analyzed, categorizing 9 behaviors often used to describe a “guilty look” by owners: head, ears or tail down, raising a paw, moving away from the owner, licking, rolling onto the back, etc.
The results are not only what you’d expect, but even more so: Not only was there no correlation between behavior usually categorized as “guilty” and the dogs who actually did eat the treat, it was found that the highest rates of these behaviors was found from dogs who had NOT eaten the treat and who WERE scolded by their owners. Trials in which the dogs did eat the treat (even though handed to them by the experimenter) and who were scolded showed fewer deferential (my word) behaviors than if they had not gotten the treat.
You can’t get much better evidence for what we’ve all been saying for years: “No, your dog DOESN’T “know better! He’s just afraid of what you’re about to do!” It’s true that there is a potential glitch in the methodology, but I think the author handles it well in the discussion. Since the dogs who got the treat were given the treat by a human, even after being told to leave it alone, it is hard to know if the dog itself considered its behavior as being disobedient… the author’s paper after all is about being careful about making attributions (or mis-attributions) and this is a potential problem. How do we know that the dogs perceived themselves as being “disobedient?” The author did do subsequent tests to follow up on this potential problem and I think it does indeed support the original results.
Speaking though, of mis-attributions, I do have a small bone to pick (a treat to take away?) from some of the statements in the paper. Although I have been on record in speeches, books and articles that of all the emotions, guilt is the one least likely to be experienced equivalently by humans and dogs, I am included in a list of “ethologists, animal behaviorists and other scientists” who describe a “dog ostensibly guilty of a transgression…“. My interpretation of her words was that I and others were indeed arguing that “head down, ears down” is the posture of a guilty dog. That, it turns out, is not what she meant: she meant that we had written that pet owners use these postures to describe what they believe is a guilty posture. She clarified that in a gracious email to me after I wrote her about it.
I suspect my interpretation of what she wrote was in part based on something she said earlier in the Introduction: “And yet, ethologists, animal husbandrists, pet owners and others .. frequently use emotional terms to describe or explain an animal’s behavior.”
She is certainly right on target that I, and others are comfortable talking about expressions of emotions in animals. However, I’m not clear why she mentions “ethologists, animal husbandrists and pet owners” etc, but not psychologists, neurobiologists, etc. etc, including those who study emotions in animals and have for many years.
What I think is important here is to help people understand what of their emotional life is shared with dogs and what is not. Pure primal terror or rage, for example, is a profoundly primitive experience, and yet much of our own emotions are overlain with a cognitive component that dogs probably don’t share… Surely, as I write in For the Love of a Dog, the shared emotional life of people and dogs is a glass half empty and a glass half full. We need to take this debate beyond the two polarized perspectives of “You can’t talk about emotions in animals” and “I know my dog is guilty! Just look at him!” That’s what I tried to do in the book (and learned a ton myself by writing it.) This study is a good step toward helping professionals convince the general public that people are much too quick to attribute guilt to their dog. My own observations are that dog owners are quick to attribute the emotions least likely to experienced in similar ways by people and dogs, and miss the ones most likely to be shared (like fear). More on this topic, it’s a big one, but I’m curious what you’ve found: what emotions are you, your neighbors or your clients most likely to ascribe to their dogs (and why!)
Meanwhile, back at the farm: Willie has a broken tooth and goes in tomorrow for a general cleaning and a close examination of the tooth. (Large premolar on the top jaw.. of course the largest tooth in the mouth with three roots. jeeeez.) Then we’ll know if he needs a root canal, an extraction or just (oh please!) just a cap on it. Please do whatever you can to help me remember to NOT give Willie his stuffed Kong tomorrow morning. It is such a habit with me I am in angst already that I’ll forget! Notes will be all over the house!
Here’s a photo of Lassie and her chiropractor, Dr. Mark McCaan. I love the comparison of facial expressions! Anyone want to venture what emotion Lassie’s face expresses?
Devorah Friedman says
I’m intrigued by the guilty/not guilty test especially because you say dogs do not “know better”. What about the case of a dog who alarm barks when other dogs do things that are not permitted such as steal food, raid the garbage, climb up on an off limits piece of furniture ? I have such a dog. In fact this boy will alert me if one of the kids leaves a gate or door open. He definately seems to have the sense that something is ” wrong”.
I enjoy your blog and feel compelled to tell you how invaluable I consider your books. I’ve had the occasion to reread them both this summer. A new puppy to train, a refresher course for me . Thank you so much.
Scott says
Torque, my retired greyhound, is dark-brindle with yellow eyes and as such, he has one of the most expressive faces I’ve ever seen on a dog. In fact, because his moods can be so intensely displayed, he seems to make a lot of my friends and family uneasy. They often misread him, a lot of which, I find, has to do with the prejudice against dogs with lighter eyes. I don’t think he’d get the same reaction were his eyes dark brown.
He is amazingly good at conveying what I liken to contempt. If he has to do something he doesn’t like, say, “off the couch” or “kennel up” (go to your crate) he shoots me that look and it burns right into me! In fact, it is incredibly similar to the look Lassie is giving above. Hopefully she’s directing that look at having her picture taken, as I’m sure she loves the good doctor :0).
Taryn says
Lassie looks stressed or nervous…the kind of nervous a dog gets when a vet is nearby!
Liza Lundell says
Condolences to Willie from Amelia, who had 18(!) teeth pulled last March (and survived the experience). Put the note on the KONG! Sounds silly, but it works.
Amelia says if anyone’s guilty, it’s the fool that left a treat they didn’t want to share within reach.
Debbie says
Every time I find myself agreeing with the argument that dogs are not expressing guilt, I am forced to remember Eddie, an English Springer Spaniel I had years ago. Occasionally, he liked to drag paper, Kleenex, etc. out of our bedroom wastebasket which was on the top floor of our 3-level condo. On the days he didn’t do this (which was most days), he would meet my husband at the end of the day at our entry door (either on the main or lower level) with his usual butt-wiggling greeting. On the days he HAD attacked the wastebasket, his greeting would be much, much more subdued and he’d look, as my husband described it, “guilty”. My question is this: how could Eddie have been reacting to my husband’s reprimands or non-verbal cues when my husband had no way of knowing what had transpired during his absence since he couldn’t see the litter strewn around until long after the greeting when he’d climbed the steps to the 3rd floor?
Good luck with Will’s tooth. I had a root canal and crown done on a (working) dog a few years ago and would not choose to do it again…..a lot of expense for very little benefit. In fact, the crown fell off after about a year and we then decided to have the tooth pulled and it didn’t impact his working ability at all.
Trisha says
Thanks Liza! Putting the note on the Kong is brilliant. I’ll do that as soon as I get home. And I’ll put one in his dinner (breakfast) bowl, the bag of treats.. etc etc. Great idea, in a simple, yet brilliant E = mc squared kind of way!
I love the comments already in on guilt and guilty looks. I’ll continue this discussion either in more comments or another blog.. it deserves a lot of thought.
One quick comment though (before I go back to trying to remember how to post a video on Youtube and then on the blog… (sigh, I am in infinite trial learner with stuff like this!). To Debbie: My interpretation of Eddie’s expression is that he’s learned a contingency: when there’s litter in the house and an arriving human entering the door, there might be trouble. Once your husband has scolded him even once in that context, Eddie can have learned to predict that it might happen again. That doesn’t mean that Eddie feels guilty, it means that Eddie has learned to associate litter from the waste can and an entering husband with trouble: thus the deferential look.
That said, I’m not comfortable being in the camp that no dog can ever feel anything ever somewhat akin to what we call guilt. Ah… here come the complications! Back to trying to influence the behavior of my computer (if only I could give it treats or play tug with it!).
Cassie Whitmire says
My mom’s dog does something similar to the “guilt” look, but that I find much funnier. Jake is a young, very active smart dog, that should probably be kept in his crate when she is gone, but is often left loose in the house with a dog door to the yard and an open crate.
You know ahead of time if Jake has torn up something that is not one of his toys- if he has done nothing wrong, he will be running loose in the yard or at the front door to greet. If he did tear something up you will find him pretending to be asleep in his crate (as if he had never left!) . If you wait outside and watch the crate through the window you will see him look around a minute before “sleeping” again.
For what its worth, my mom won’t listen to me on the “guilty look”, and lectures him when he chews up forbidden objects, so he has reason to pretend. It’s low key, but she has stern body language and it looks pretty intimidating. He takes lectures very seriously. (head down, ears back, super pathetic sad)
Patti says
Good luck to Will, I’m sure he’ll do fine and hopefully you too. I think Lassie looks nervous in the picture. Sort of like she doesn’t want to be where she is, even if maybe, just maybe, she knows she’ll feel better afterwards.
Thinking about the emotions I have attributed to all my dogs over the years I came up with:
joy (of doing something, running through a field, chasing a ball, etc. as opposed to:
happiness (as in greating a pack member after they’ve been gone for 5 minutes or more)
fear (total panic, I had a rescue dog with serious fear issues, seen by Trisha)
distrust (much lower level of fear, as of people with hats, but will still approach and check out the person)
affection (as opposed to love, can dogs love??, sometimes I think so, scientifically I don’t know)
curiosity (is this an emotion?) I know emotion comes into it, I’ve had dogs who were a bit timid around new things but still curious.
Denise says
My Hugh agrees with Liza’s Amelia. Possession is 9/10ths of the law, after all!
Frankly, what people usually label the “guilty look” isn’t really in Hugh’s bag of “tricks” – maybe because my practice is to simply put things out of reach. I don’t scold if I forget and he takes something – after all, I’m the guilty party – I forgot and Hugh was being himself – a dog! We do practice “leave it” but no way is it good enough to hold if I leave the room. Maybe someday but there’s still no substitute for good management.
Nancy says
If we examine the flip side of the coin, ie, HUMAN behavior in relation to their own (perceived) misdeeds, how much of someone “acting guilty” is not guilt per se but behavior designed to minimize punishment from others? How often do people act meekly or deferentially not out of a sense of wrong-doing but because of anxiety about emotional upset?
Andrea says
I am guilty (ha!) of ascribing all kinds of emotions to my dogs:
amusement, joy, contentment, fear, annoyance, and existential angst, to name a few. On the other hand, I’m well aware that my dogs are not likely to actually be experiencing some of these things, and am torn between wishing I knew exactly what was going on in their hairy little heads, and feeling I am better off not knowing.
I would describe Lassie’s face as “non-plussed” or “unamused” by the goings-on.
Crystal says
I absolutely would have refused to scold my dog- she’s just a VERY soft dog, and even the mildest verbal correction given at an appropriate time tends to set her back a great deal. When she does something wrong, I just say, “Nope, try again!” in the cheeriest voice I can. It’s more of a non-reward marker than anything.
That said, with a more “normal” dog, I probably would have participated. Mine just isn’t a good candidate for such a thing.
Michelle says
Wow, Crystal’s message sounds like it came from me. My dog’s incredibly soft. One mild verbal “scolding” is enough to shut her down. I couldn’t have participated, but would have loved to if I had a less soft dog! I also don’t scold her in such situations. She steals the butter and I scold myself since it was my mistake that lead to her getting such a nice treat while I was out!
What a fascinating study. I’d love to see it done with more dog/owner pairs and without someone to pic up the treat and offer it to the dog. Allow the dog to make the decision to eat or not eat and have the person pick it up only if the dog ate it. That being said, the mere presence of another human being would stop my dog from eating it. But if no one was around I would be very surprised if she left it behind. So there are many variables there still to explore.
sweet K9 mom says
Willie will be fine! In fact he will feel better after getting some good dental care!
Lassie says, “Oh, this guy again *sigh*. And a picture? Really?”
I agree with many of the above comments. Would like to see a study redone with hidden cameras maybe? Have known a dog that would “tell” on other dogs. Totally agree with Nancy! I think that might be a better way of explaining our pups guilty looks!
MJ says
Ah… Springers. Our child of the ’60s, Cindy, was not allowed on the furniture. She did, of course, occasionally snooze on the sofa when no one was home. My mom discovered hair on the sofa, and while brushing it off, said (in her best disapproving mother tone) “ooohhh, Cinnnndy.” Cindy hung her head and looked guilty. After that, my mom could simply brush at “hair” on the sofa (whether there was any or not) and not say a word. If Cindy had been on it, she would look guilty. If she had not, she would just sit there and smile. World’s best family dog, that Cindy.
ken says
My wife and I have had many conversations about this subject. Our dog Magnet is a garbage eater. If we leave the house wit out him and forget to close off all access to the kitchen we will come home to all kinds of fun treats thrown around the house. My wife is convinced he knows he did something wrong because he grunts, cowers and rolls over on his back by the front door when we enter the house if he has been in the garbage. He doesn’t show any of the same responses (well maybe grunts in excitement) if the garbage is untouched.
I’m sure there is some sort of visual cue on our part that sets off the expressions of “guilt” but I have no idea what it is. Maybe the chewed up diaper he left sitting in the middle of the living room is enough of a visual cue to tell him “uh oh, their home and they aren’t going to like this”.
I think I would have done the study with Magnet but not Sushi. When magnet does something he is not supposed to and we cross our arms and say “oh magnet what have you done!!” he’ll almost sink through to the floor below but then seconds later he’s all head and tail up in full body wag. Sushi is way to soft.
Anna says
Since the study asked you to do what you normally do I would not have been a good subject as if I find something after the fact I, like Trisha, might express disappointment by saying “Aw Rudy” but my disappointment is more in my not attention. I guess it is not fair that I use his name I should say “Aw Anna”. If I find Rudy in the act or about to commit a crime I will just give a “drop it” or “leave it” command and it usually works, he often then expresses his disappoinment in not getting the item by giving me “puppy eyes” and I respond from some sense of guilt by quickly finding something he can have. Emotions change quickly don’t they!!
S says
interesting discussion! When we went thru the adoption process with our male lab, we were assured he was calm and great with kids, even the fosters exlaimed at his calmness in the house. The first few days those who met him remarked how calm he was but I had a feeling it was something more – how could a dog new to a home be vegging out in the kitchen while kids ran in and out of the house…so I began to even more carefully observe him and I have concluded that his “calmness” was in fact a total shut down – a severe avoidance/coping mechanism (he would lie perfectly still, flat out, eyes closed but not tight, but no reaction at all). A month later he came out of his shell more and he is a very anxious dog, although he does appear calm. He suffers from SA which using your book we’ve come along ways with. I wonder how often calmness is confused with avoidance/shutting down. He is truly wonderful with our children, but I am careful to make sure when he starts to shut down that the chaos is moved outside or I work with him so he stays engaged and comfortable (ie do some commands, or a quick walk or something to stop the shut down mechanism). With the SA I am very careful not to give off any “shoot why did you do THAT” vibe when I return to any mess, but its often hard (although I don’t scold)- I’m sure I’m not as subtle as I think. With SA, I am really curious how my dog (and even our new non SA dog) knows when I am truly leaving (lots of window watching etc) and when I am just going to mailbox or out to bus stop (I put shoes on, carry keys for either to desensitize so how DO they know?). As for Lassie, I’m curious if pic was pre or post adjustment? She seems uncomfortable – as if lets get the heck out of here, but if I must stay, I will.
Alexandra says
Heh, Lassie looks like she’d rather be somewhere else.
With my two dogs, my rescue lab-mix looks “concerned” more often than not. She worries a lot. My lab looks happy and relaxed most of the time, but he gets anxious when I leave for work; it’s a big contrast in his demeanor.
Both dogs seem to celebrate joy by running madly around the house or starting a wrestling match. All kinds of things will trigger this, but it’s usually me putting on my tennis shoes to take them for a walk.
I would say they can also look dissappointed if a game or even a training exercise ends before they want to stop. My lab gave our vet a very accusatory look the first time he had his ears cleaned, as if to say, “but… but…. I LIKED you!” which had us laughing out loud. And, my lab-mix will do a dissapointed pose of hanging her head and tail and looking dejected, but I think we inadvertantly trained her to do it by giving her more attention when she did various increments of her “sad” pose.
Gary says
Thanks for bringing this up. When you get a chance, I’d also like to see your take on a couple of recent papers that appeared in Science on canine cognition. The current issue has a wonderful set of experiments showing that dogs are more like human children than they are like wolves in their reliance on human cues to search for objects. There is another general review of research on canine cognition in the 28 August issue.
Kelly Ladouceur says
I am so glad to read of a study that confirms this!!! Trish – could I possibly have your permission to post what you’ve written on some Cocker SPaniel forums that I belong to? More than once I’ve tried to explain that dogs don’t do things that they know are wrong and will result in punishment, but people continue to tell me that their dogs are doing it “just to spite them.”
Krystal says
My all-time favorite emotion Roxy & Romeo experience is JOY! I love it when friends or family come over that they haven’t seen in a while – their whole bodies wriggle and bound and leap as if they cannot possibly contain themselves one more second! I’ve not seen guilt – just reactions to my reaction – but Roxy is definitely my tattle-tale. The first few months with Romeo, he suffered from separation anxiety and became an escape artist to boot, even when I sprung for the “escape-proof” wire crate. But I always knew if he had wreaked havoc in the house long before I got to the door because Roxy would start “telling” on him in no uncertain terms. I’m guessing that she had learned to associate his rampages with me being upset. She often seems to me to behave like a big sister in that way, though, often correcting him for jumping up, etc before I even realize what he’s doing.
Trisha says
Kelly: It is absolutely fine to post the blog on some Cocker forums, that’d be lovely. As Ian Dunbar once said “Copying or distributing this information without the explicit approval from the publisher or author will result in healthier, happier dogs.” Loved that.
Kathy says
One day one of my dogs came into my study while I was working at the computer looking
incredibly guilty. I did not react other than to look at him, and then went down the hall and
into the living room to find something he had filched from the sink (I think it was an empty and
rinsed dog food can).
Since I hadn’t known what he’d done when I saw him, how is it possible that his guilt was
a response to my behavior? I don’t believe that it was. I had no idea what he’d done.
Trisha says
I’ve loved reading these responses. Lots to talk about, but I’ll focus on 2 things: cases in which dogs really might be guilty (I find Kathy’s comment above especially interesting), or at least aware that they have done something that gets a reaction, and facial expressions. Really, they are both related, because the expression that we often perceive as “guilty” is very similar to the expression of a fearful, submissive dog. That then begs the question (now it’s going to get REALLY complicated)… what is guilt? Exactly what do we mean when we talk about guilt in humans, anyway? Guilt, according to Wikipedia (my apologies, but it’s a start, hey?) is “a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes that he or she has violated a moral standard and is responsible for that violation.” It goes on to say that guilt is often associated with anxiety and depression.
The reason that many argue that dogs don’t feel guilt is the belief that it is beyond their cognitive ability to be aware of an abstract moral standard. It is one thing to learn to associate an action or context with the behavior of another (pee on carpet correlates with angry voice of owner) and another altogether to feel badly because one feels he or she violated an abstract moral code. More food for thought, yes?
Lassie’s face, by the way, is what I call her “Frownie Face” because of the clear contraction of the muscles above and between her eyes, the same muscles that humans contract when frowning. Although I adore her chiropractor, and for good reason, Lassie tolerates adjustments but would rather we saw Dr. Mark socially rather than professionally. I guarantee you that she would eliminate adjustments from her schedule if I would allow it! So I read Lassie’s face as a combination of mild anger and mild anxiety… sound reasonable?
kate says
More research would be interesting!
For my crew, I would have to say I don’t notice guilty looks, but then again they have no idea what “no, bad, oops,” nor am I one to throw negative energy around with humans or dogs, it’s not in me. Immediate redirect, ignore, look away, walk away is about as bad as it gets around here. Life’s too short and sometimes I’m amazed at the thought and skill it would have taken to get at something I would have preferred they left alone, that I’m more wow’d then upset. Even if I say their name sharply and redirect, I don’t get that “oops did something wrong” body language.
I also pride myself on managing their environments so they can’t get into trouble. After I’m amazed at the skill of the crime, the second thing I think is …. back to the drawing board! Which games do we need to practice the “root” of the crime 🙂 and lots of reinforcing what I would have preferred to have happened.
…ie this morning Daizy (crazy Daizy the party girl) and I were off to an agility workshop (I’m so proud of her, 8yrs young and we’re learning agility). While stopping for gas, with me outside the car pumping the gas, I looked into the car window and saw a beagle bum and tail up in the air wagging 🙂 I leaned over and there was Daizy face in the knapsack full of toys and treats. When I said “Daizy” shocked, then “back it up” she looked at me I swear as if to say “CHECK this out!…You’ll never guess the motherload of stuff I found…” her mouth all smiley and tail wagging, not a bit of guilt on her face or reaction.
I took the opportunity to play “wait it mom opens the knapsack” is way more fun, and tasty than having the knapsack wide open and stuffing your face in alone.
From what I’ve read, although some stories would be very interesting to have caught on video, I would tend to lean more towards the learned aspect.
Stephanie says
Are there similar studies in humans? Another question to ask is about the nature of guilt in humans. If it’s related to shame (getting caught), then guilt could very much be wrapped up in responses to others (teacher, trainer, etc).