Can Dogs Tell When You're Lying? Science Has An Answer That May Surprise You

Experts have known for a good while that dogs can respond to and correctly interpret human gestures and expressions. But how far does this understanding go? For example, can they tell when you’re lying?

This is the question that Kyoto University researchers sought to understand. They took 34 dogs and presented each dog with two containers. One container was empty and the other had treats, and the study had three phases.

In phase one, a human would point to the container full of treats, then open it to show the dog what was inside. The dog would then eat the treats happily. In phase two, the human did the same, but for the empty container, leaving the dog confused and curious.

Then, in phase three, that same human would point to the container full of treats. But most of the dogs now did not believe the human! When the human was replaced with a new person, when they pointed at the container, the dogs would believe the new stranger and happily go along.

What does this tell us? Well, it means that dogs are able to judge humans as reliable or unreliable. If they have reason not to trust you, then they won’t, but if you’ve given them no reason to doubt you, they will believe you!

Feature Image Source: Pixabay