Repository logo
 

Are owners' reports of their dogs' 'guilty look' influenced by the dogs' action and evidence of the misdeed?


Change log

Authors

Ostojić, Ljerka 
Tkalčić, Mladenka 
Clayton, Nicola S 

Abstract

While dog owners claim that their dogs' greeting behaviour after having performed a misdeed indicates the dogs' 'guilt', current experimental evidence suggests that dogs show these 'guilty look' behaviours as a response to being scolded by their owners. Given reports that 'guilty look' behaviours are shown also in the absence of being scolded, we investigated whether the dogs' own actions or the evidence of a misdeed might serve as triggering cues. We manipulated whether or not dogs ate a 'forbidden' food item and whether or not the food was visible upon the owners' return. Based on their dogs' greeting behaviour, owners stated that their dog had eaten the food no more than expected by chance. In addition, dogs' greeting behaviours were not affected by their own action or the presence or absence of the food. Thus, our findings do not support the hypothesis that dogs show the 'guilty look' in the absence of a concurrent negative reaction by their owners.

Description

Keywords

Domestic dogs, ‘Guilty look’, Animals, Behavior, Animal, Cues, Dogs, Food, Guilt, Human-Animal Bond, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Social Behavior

Journal Title

Behav Processes

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0376-6357
1872-8308

Volume Title

111

Publisher

Elsevier BV
Sponsorship
We thank the BBSRC for financial support and Burns Pet Nutrition Ltd. for the purchase of a camera and memory card as well as their donation of dog treats.