Dogs know when someone is not trustworthy

According toa study published in Animal Cognition, dogs can feel when a person is not trustworthy. When a dog decides that a person is undeserving, he will no longer follow his orders/directions.

It has been known for years that dogs understand when a human points to something. That is if the owner points to where a ball or food is, he will rush to explore where he is pointing.According to the study, dogs are quick to see if these gestures are misleading.

The study team organized three rounds of this gesture in 34 dogs.In the first round, the researchers pointed precisely to where the food was hidden in a container. In round two they pointed to an empty container. And in round three, the investigator pointed again to the food container.In the last round, the dog did not respond to the investigator’s suggestion. This suggests that dogs used their experience to assess whether it was a reliable guide.