Dogs adept at reading people


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FRIDAY, July 15 (HealthDay News) -- To anyone who is familiar with the eerily human-like qualities of man's best friend, the news that dogs can read your mind shouldn't come as any surprise.

The latest research adds to growing evidence that dogs can interpret both human body language and general behavior, and use it to their advantage.

"Dogs and [human-raised] wolves are capable of distinguishing between a person looking at them, someone who's paying attention and someone who's not," said Monique A.R. Udell, lead author of a study published recently in the journal Learning & Behavior. "They're more likely to beg [for food] from someone paying attention to them."

Researchers have been learning more and more about the surprising capabilities and intelligence of Canis lupus familiaris, better known as the domestic dog.

One recent study found that dogs have the developmental abilities of a human 2-year-old, with the average dog capable of learning the meanings of 165 words.

"Over the last five years or so, we've been trying to understand how dogs and relatives of dogs such as wolves respond to social companions," explained Udell, who was a researcher at the University of Florida in Gainesville when the study was conducted.

The findings, said Udell, are "important because previous research suggested that something happened to dogs during genetic domestication that made them begin to think like humans. This shows that wolves are capable, if reared with humans, of [picking up human cues]."

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Dogs have learned to read facial expressions the same way a human does, from left to right, or up and down, depending on where in the world you are from and the mannerisms of how people themselves view and react to others emotions.

They are also one of the few, if not only, animal to understand a finger point and trace the "invisible line" to what we are pointing at.

They can smile, frown, and show many more emotions. They also have the ability to understand words and associate them with specific items. One dog I believe had over 300 words memorized to different items, and could tell size apart as well when told to get "big" or "small".

They don't even need to be told commands as well. I have a dog that when she is riding with me, and I exit the car, she jumps from the back seat up to my driver seat. When I return, I just open both front and back doors at the same time, and she hops right out the front and right back into the back.

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Absolutely nothing dog/wolf owners haven't known for 60,000 years.

My experience with cats leans more towards them being psychotic, but whatever.

I could not possibly agree more with both these statements (Y)

I do miss owning a dog :( Maybe when I have a big garden and more time to spend with one

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In class once, I wrote a personal essay about some dogs I knew, and my peer reviewer thought I was shamelessly exaggerating some interaction I had with a dog, I guess because it was too human. She mostly seemed skeptical of the part where I was actually talking to it in full sentences.

The dog and I had gotten into a tiff earlier in the day, and so he had been avoiding me for many hours. Later in the day, I saw him gradually sitting closer and closer to me, so I met him half way, and then told him why I was upset, apologized to him for the discipline I had given him, and then he licked my face and trotted off happily, understanding exactly what I was saying I'm sure.

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I talk to my dog all the time. Sometimes I respond back to myself in a different voice (which I perceive he would sound like) as if he's replying to me. I guess I'm talking to myself. Haha

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