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October 27, 2009

A puzzling news item came to me via a fellow writer/blogger last week. Stephanie Stiavetti, who blogs about gluten-free cooking over at Wasabimon, alerted me that the October issue of Behavioural Processes (a journal of animal behavior research) includes a study that seems to show dogs CANNOT detect deception in people. Here, many of us are thinking that our oh-so-sensitive and instinctual canine pals are good judges of character, but in the study’s set-up, dogs did not distinguish in any significant way people who were being honest with them (about the location of a bowl with a treat in it) and those who were not.

Apes, on the other hand, have been shown in other studies to know cooperator from deceiver and even to deceive others themselves.

Lilly clearly understands “other” or “stranger,” as in “You are so NOT the mama.” She has certainly learned that these others can be OK, if they approach with the right context and demeanor. We know from keep away and hide and seek that Lilly shows a certain frustration if we try and “trick” her. For example, Tom will often wait for Lilly to run upstairs looking for him, then he’ll pop out of his hiding spot and just sit on the couch, where Lilly will surely see him when she comes back downstairs. She barks, jumps, and makes funny noises that we interpret as her saying, “You were NOT there a second ago!”

But, she seems to think our jokes or tricks on her make the game more fun. They do not (thank goodness) make her distrust us.

I like to think that Lilly would correctly interpret someone with ill intent. Perhaps simply being untruthful about food isn’t enough to trigger a dog’s sense of good person/bad person.

About the Author Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related.

I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

  1. I think one thing is that if a dog truly trusts you, then they can’t be deceived into thinking you have ill intent. We play with our dogs all of the time as you do and they know we’re playing. We’ve even began identifying that sound you wrote here you believe is dog laughter!
    I think dogs can detect ill intent. I know my Emma knew one time when a horse was charging me with the intent of stomping me. She got in between us, biting at the horse’s legs. She knew the horse wasn’t playing and I was hurt and couldn’t get away from it.
    I don’t give a whole lot of thought to most of these studies…I go with my instincts and what I know about my dogs.
    These studies say that herbs and Vitamin C don’t ward off colds either…

  2. Ummm. I think my dog is pretty good about detecting any trickery I may play on her. When we chase each other around the house, for example, she can tell when I’m trying to trick her into going a different way. She figures me out every time. I’ve never tricked her with food, though. Makes me wonder…

  3. We often play a game with our goldens where we’ll hold a toy or ball and pretend to throw it but instead stick it in our shirts or behind us. They are never fooled – they turn and look but then look back and say “I know you didn’t throw it” then their noses sniff it out. I agree and I personally believe my dogs would see bad intent – maybe I just want to believe that though.

    One funny thing they do is when someone comes here who is just not really into dogs, they will not leave that person alone. I always say they are trying to convert them to being dog lovers, but maybe they’re just trying to get that person to offer them some attention!

  4. I think it all depends how you define “deception.” Does my dog understand when I tell her we’re going on a walk in 10 minutes and we don’t go for an hour? No. Does she know when I’m trying to hide a treat from her? You bet!

  5. I’m not sure that I’ve ever tried to deceive my dogs, except in games where I’m trying to hide an object or hide myself. But, my dogs (past and present) have always been very trusting of people so I doubt that they’d know if a ‘bad person’ picked up their leash and started taking them away.

    On the other hand, my dog K once freaked out barking at a guy at a trailhead who I also thought was behaving furtively.

    I agree with you about the idea that something as un-dangerous as pointing the wrong way toward a bowl might not raise the red alert flags but something worse might.

  6. I figure that dogs understand ill intent more than people do – or at least they feel “a disturbance in the force,” so to speak. At the same time, dogs can be very trusting of people, so I don’t have an answer. I just know that my cats always seem suspicious of people. 😉

  7. You bet she would. I had a dog who never, ever raised a lip in his life – only once – and for the right reason at the right time. Dogs are much more intuitive than people think…

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