It’s often said that dogs are a man’s best friend, but did you know that dogs may be able to tell if you’re telling the truth?

Everyone knows that when a dog’s owner points at something, the dog will go try to find what they’re pointing to. But recent studies have shown dogs can also figure out if you’re trying to trick them.

In a recent study published in “Animal Cognition Journal”, a group at Kyoto University led by Akiko Takaoka studied 34 dogs to see if they can understand if a person is telling the truth.

In the first round of the study, trainers pointed to a container with food hidden in it for the dogs to look in. In the second round, trainers pointed to containers with no food in them.

The researchers found that by the third round, when a trainer pointed to a container with food, the dogs no longer believed them.

Takaoka says this is proof dogs use their experience to judge if people are trustworthy.

In a final round of experiments, once trainers showed the dogs there were treats in the containers, the dogs began following their directions again.

Takaoka says, “Dogs have more sophisticated social intelligence than we thought. This social intelligence evolved selectively in their long life history with humans.”
John Bradshaw of the University of Bristol in the UK was not surprised by the results. He says, “Dogs whose owners are inconsistent to them often have behavioral disorders.” Bradshaw says dogs are fascinated by new things. He says, “Dogs are almost information junkies” and they enjoy finding patterns.

Takaoka says she wants to try the same experiment again with wolves. She believes wolves won’t be so quick to judge people. She says dogs can judge a persons’ character so easily because they have lived with people for so long.

It’s often said that dogs are a man’s best friend, but did you know that dogs may be able to tell if you’re lying?

Everyone knows that when a dog’s owner points at something, the dog will go try to find what they’re pointing to. But recent studies have shown dogs may also know if you’re lying.

A recent study in “Animal Cognition Journal” by a group at Kyoto University studied 34 dogs to see if they can understand if a person is lying.

In the first round of the study, trainers pointed to a container with food hidden in it for the dogs to look in. In the second round, trainers pointed to containers with no food in them.

The researchers found that by the third round, when a trainer pointed to a container with food, the dogs didn’t believe them.

Akiko Takaoka, of Kyoto University, says this means dogs use their experience to know if people should be trusted.

In a final round of experiments, once trainers showed the dogs there was food in the containers, the dogs began following their directions again.

Takaoka says dogs understand people better than we thought. She said this is because they evolved with people.

John Bradshaw of the University of Bristol in the UK was not surprised by the results. Bradshaw says dogs love learning and they enjoy finding patterns.

Takaoka says she wants to try the same experiment again with wolves. She believes wolves won’t be so quick to understand people. She says dogs can judge people so easily because they have lived with people for so long.