Dogs’ ability to recognize human kindness

Dogs are able to understand who behaves well or badly towards them and their owners, showing themselves more or less receptive based on this

Dogs, since long regarded as man’s best friends, have been in the spotlight due to their special sense of empathy and intuition with regard to the events surrounding them. Science has proven that these animals can make out who is being nice to the owner and who is being mean and reacts accordingly.

An experiment that involved several dogs revealed that dogs are not only capable of telling between good and bad persons to them but also differentiate those that are hostile or rude to the owners, hence being very friendly to those that treat them nicely.

The Kyoto University experiment

A study, conducted by researchers at Kyoto University, exposed dogs to conditions where people either acted in a friendly or aggressive manner to their owners. The outcome of the study indicated that “dogs were much more responsive to people who had shown affection and were friendly, and they shunned or reacted aggressively toward those who were standoffish.”.

This behavior underlines the fact that dogs are able to connect certain actions with specific people and remember unpleasant actions-a kind of “social memory“-and further use this to modify their future interactions.

Preference for honest and transparent people

Other experiments, such as that by the University of Tokyo, have supported this interpretation and added that dogs can also identify when they are being lied to or led astray by humans.

In one such experiment, it was found that dogs favored those who were open and truthful than those who were devious. They even lashed out with anger or simply lost interest when they had been duped. These results certainly stress the emotional bonding and a sense of fairness apparently instilled in dogs.

Emotional Intelligence and Protective Instincts
These studies confirm not only the emotional intelligence of dogs but also their ability to distinguish behaviors that directly impinge on their well-being and that of their owners. Though dogs may not have a clear notion of “right” and “wrong,” their capacity to identify trustworthy individuals is an instinct that serves to protect both themselves and their human companions.

Source: ScienceDirect