Dogs may look guilty but they aren't

Most owners know that guilty look on their dog's face. Usually it's when we arrive home and find the cushion shredded or the garden dug up. We attribute this to the dog knowing it has done wrong and feeling guilty.

New research shows this is not the case. Dog owners were either told their dog had stolen a biscuit or had not. In other words, the owners did not know if their dogs were truly guilty or not.
Result - the only dogs who showed guilty looks were the ones whose owners thought their dog was guilty.
This means dogs put on that look just for the owner.

Dr Jo says "the guilty look is probably an appeasement behaviour, to deflect the owner's emotions from the dog. The dog has learned to read the owner's behaviour and has learnt to attempt to appease us. We interpret that as guilt.
This does not mean that dogs are absent of any emotions. Far from it. They feel and express many emotions. This syudy shows, however, that humans cannot interpret these correctly. Lots of learning to do!"



Original research abstract
BBC story