Dogs cannot speak, but body language speaks volume. Many dogs bow when they want to play, lick their lips, or turn their gaze away when they are nervous or afraid, for example.
But people aren't always good at interpreting such cues – or even realising them, new research suggests.
In this study, the researchers presented people with videos of dogs responding to positive and negative stimuli, including leashes, treats, vacuum cleaners, and scuffs. When asked to assess the dog's emotions, viewers appeared to pay more attention to situational cues than the dog's actual behavior, even when the video was being edited. (In one video, for example, a dog that appears to be responding to the sight of his leash was actually shown a vacuum cleaner by his owner.)
“I think you know what's going on by just recognizing your dog's emotions, but in reality it's potentially dependent on a number of other factors,” said Holly Molinaro, a doctoral student at Arizona State University and author of a new paper published Monday in Antrozo.
That prejudice can mislead owners about dog happiness, Molinaro said. People who pay attention to their dog's experiences and emotions need to “take a second or two to actually focus on the dog, not everything else that's happening,” she said.
The idea for this study was born in 2021, when Molinaro just completed her PhD in Dog Emotions, but the Covid-19 pandemic has sharply limited the ability to conduct face-to-face research.
She was inspired by research exploring how contextual cues influence people's perceptions of others' emotions. She was also clearly inspired by the technology of the pandemic era: Zoom. Video conferencing software has the ability to blur the background of workers. Ms. Molinaro and her advisor, Clive Wynn, are experts in dog behavior in Arizona – they began to wonder if they could do something similar, and created a video that lets people see the dog behavior without seeing what is unfolding around it.
And while visiting her Connecticut parents, Molinaro began recording videos of her family's dog, Oliver. In some videos, Molinaro's father did what Oliver is likely to respond positively, such as Oliver showing his leash and toys. In others, he did things that are likely to elicit more negative reactions, such as gently scolding Oliver and giving him Saffron, Ms. Molinaro's cat. (“He wasn't a fan,” she said.
After that, after the crash course of video editing, Molinaro created a version of each video, deleted all the context of the situation, leaving Oliver's footage on a black background.
The researchers asked hundreds of undergraduates to watch both video sets and assess Oliver's emotional state in each clip. When subjects rated the original video, they rated Oliver's emotions as more positive in the positive scenario than in the negative scenario. However, when the context was removed, they rated Oliver's feelings as equally positive in both types of situations.
Scientists then took a step further by stitching together footage from various situations. For example, it shows that Molinaro's father presents a vacuum alongside footage of Oliver's reaction to seeing his rope.
Viewers appeared to be more shaking by context than by Oliver's actions. When Morinaro's father was portrayed as positive, subjects judged Oliver's feelings as positive.
“There is absolutely no evidence that people actually see dogs,” Dr. Wynn said. “They seem to have some sort of big blind spot around the dogs themselves.”
This study has limitations, including that it was based on the behavior of one dog. When asked to assess the emotions of his dog, people may perform better, and perhaps noticed signs of intense fear and trauma. (Scientists did not expose Oliver to a very negative experience.)
Still, he hoped that the study would be a wake-up call for pet owners. “I keep that in my life,” said Dr. Wynn, who hired the recently retired Racing Greyhound.
“I'm making it a project to learn how she expresses herself,” he added. “If you know what makes her happy and unhappy, you can guide her life towards greater happiness.”
Sadly, Oliver didn't live long enough to see the research being published. “But it's sweet to see him being commemorated in this study,” Molinaro said.
