If you had an inkling that your dog can determine if a person is bad, science is here to tell you that your inkling is actually correct! A research conducted by Akiko Takaoka of Kyoto University in Japan confirmed that dogs are intelligent enough to identify if a person is good or bad. But how they do it is probably different from what you think.
As dogs are man’s best friend, researchers have been keen on studying their behavior. This recent study showed how dogs are far more intelligent than we thought they were.
The study involved two stages. In the first stage of the study, dogs were paired with their owners who were made to ask for help from random strangers. During the second stage, the random strangers who were asked for help gave treats to the dogs. What happened next surprised the scientists!
The dogs remembered all the strangers who acted rudely and didn’t extend help to their owners for whenever the rude strangers would offer them treats, they always declined and refused to accept such treats. The dogs did not prefer to be fed by people who were mean to their owners!
On the other hand, the dogs welcomed treats from those who were helpful to their owners. Even from ones who ignored their owners and didn’t help but weren’t rude. This experiment was done to 34 dogs and all reacted in the same manner. There was an apparent recognition of the previous acts towards their owners that helped them in determining if it’s okay to be fed by such person — if the person is good or bad.
This lead the scientists to conclude that dogs keep record of how people interact with their owners. Those who treat their owners rudely are deemed untrustworthy and bad.
So yes, your dogs can determine if a person is bad. But it’s not through their smell or the way they look. It’s in the way that they treat you, their beloved owner! Dogs indeed are precious intelligent loving creatures!