Guilty Or Not Guilty?

Have you ever seen your dog with a guilty look on his face?
I’m sure most of you have seen this video that is doing the rounds of social media, emails etc right now… where the Labrador has a “guilty look”.
Sad-Dog-on-Hardwood-Floor

There is no doubt, this dog is trying to express himself to the owner. But is it guilt?

Dogs will show what we humans interpret as guilt, even when they have done nothing wrong. A study was conducted where owners left their dogs in a room and were told that their dogs had stolen a forbidden treat. When the owners returned to their dogs, the dogs looked guilty – whether or not they had stolen the treat. Their behaviour was as a response to the owner, not to the act of stealing a treat. More here.

 

The dog in this video is more than likely guilty of eating the treats. The owner will know this from past experience. And he is a Labrador! Labradors love their food! Anyway they can get it!!

Dogs will continue to steal forbidden food as the pay off – the reward of the food – more than makes up for any “guilty feelings” afterwards. And they are dogs!!

Sometimes this “grinning” look on a dog is also interpreted as a smile. ..

Here is a street dog whom I met in India. She approached me, sat down and “smiled”. Look at how narrow her eyes are.

In behavioural terms, these gestures are appeasement ones. Animals do them to keep us appeased, to calm us, to soothe us. They do it in direct response to our behaviour.

As a scientist we are always told not to be anthropomorphic, putting human interpretations of feelings onto animals. But I enjoy when people do this. It means that we have empathy and we ascribe similar feeling to our pets.

Dogs are especially good at appeasement looks. After living with us for 20,000 years, they have worked out what makes us tick.

Now cats on the other hand… well has anyone ever seen a guilty look on a cat’s face?!!