Dogs could be capable of understanding a situation from a human’s perspective, a new study has revealed.
According to research published in the journal Animal Cognition by Dr Juliane Kaminski from the University of Portsmouth, our canine friends were four times more likely to steal food if they had been forbidden from doing it after lights had been turned off in a room.
In a series of tests, pooches were warned by a person not to eat the food in front of them, but when the room was dark, they took more food and did so more quickly than when the space was lit.
Dr Kaminski, who works in the university’s psychology department, said the study is “incredible” because it suggests dogs know humans cannot see them.
She added: “Humans constantly attribute certain qualities and emotions to other living things. We know that our own dog is clever or sensitive, but that’s us thinking, not them.”
Previous trials have shown that while humans think they can see different expression on their dogs’ faces, this is usually just a projection of human emotions.