Study Finds People Aren’t Good At Reading Dog Body Language

Humans don’t understand dogs’ body language and corresponding emotions as well as we think we do, according to new research from the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University.

The study involved a favorite activity of many dog lovers: watching dog videos. As part of her Ph.D. research, Holly Molinaro shot videos of her father interacting with the family dog, Oliver. Sometimes he would offer Oliver a treat or show him a leash for a walk, which made the dog happy. In other videos, he might reprimand Oliver or hold up his nemesis, a cat named Saffron.

Working with Clive Wynne, Ph.D., director of the Canine Science Collaboratory and author of “Dog is Love: Why and How Your Dog Loves You,” Molinaro then showed three versions of the videos to 400 study participants — which led to surprising results.

When the videos were unedited, a majority of people could correctly identify whether Oliver was happy or stressed. But when the videos were edited to simply show Oliver with a black background, they couldn’t form an opinion about the dog’s emotions.

When the videos were edited to show Oliver reacting to a different prompt than what actually happened — like the father showing Oliver a cat in the video, when in reality he had been offering the dog a piece of cheese — participants had strong and wrong opinions about how Oliver was feeling.

“The whole study was very surprising,” Dr. Wynne said. “The finding, in a nutshell, is that when you show people a video of a dog reacting to something and you ask them how the dog is feeling, they will look at everything you show them except the dog when making their mind up. So people are really bad at paying attention to dogs when it comes to assessing how a dog is feeling — whether a dog is happy or sad.”

One important caveat is that due to ethical considerations, the research did not involve doing anything to make Oliver extremely distressed, Dr. Wynne notes. Instead, the research was limited to potentially negative things a dog might encounter in an ordinary day, such as a cat or nail clippers.

“I’m pretty confident that people would have accurately identified a terrified dog,” he says. “We just wouldn’t do that.”

Becoming Fluent In Dog Body Language

Since dogs live in 68 million U.S. homes, Dr. Wynne feels it’s imperative that people make a concerted effort to better read their emotions.

“One of the morals I draw from our research is that I encourage people to get to know their own dog,” he says. “Now I’m on a mission to convince people that they don’t really know what a dog is feeling and that they should give their dog a chance to teach them.”

He suggests paying close attention to what your dog does when they’re typically excited or happy about an activity, such as seeing a leash when it’s time for a walk.

“We need to watch our whole dog from the tip of their tail to the tip of the snout and everything in between. The ears can be expressive. Obviously the hackles, how the hair moves, the overall bodily posture,” he says. “As much as possible, just try to be like a scientist: don’t watch by imposing your preconceptions, watch neutrally and learn. Let the dog teach you what their happiness looks like, what their anxiety looks like.”

Puppies and dogs are individuals, so Dr. Wynne advises against making one-size-fits-all assumptions about canine body language, facial expressions and noises. For example, growling is generally considered to be a threatening warning from a less-than-happy dog. But his late mixed-breed dog, Xephos, used to growl in happiness. (Similarly, attuned people with Rottweilers often know their dogs are happy when they hear the “Rottie Rumble” during play — almost like a cat’s purr.)

When a dog yawns, they might be sleepy or just awakening from a nap, but yawning can also be a sign of stress (particularly when ears are pinned back, and eyes are averted). A “smiling” dog might just be keeping their mouth open because it’s hot.

While some people believe a wagging tail is always a happy sign, it can also indicate anxiety. Research in Italy found that when dogs wag their tails to the right, they’re experiencing positive emotions; conversely, a left-wagging tail denotes negative emotions, he notes.

Ultimately, learning to understand how our dogs are feeling will help us be better companions, according to Dr. Wynne.

“We have 80 million dogs living in our homes in the United States, and the vast majority of us want what’s best for our dogs – we love them and want what’s best for them,” he says. “But how can we do that if we don’t actually know when they’re happy and when they’re stressed? We have to know how they’re feeling in order to be able to give them their best lives.”