DOGS KNOW WHEN YOU LIE TO THEM

According to a new study, there is a chance that dogs know when their owners are lying to them. The research, from the Messerli Research Institute in Vienna, showed that dogs react differently to people who told them a lie without realizing it than they did to a person who knowingly lied to them. An experiment was done with 260 dogs where they were put through a simple test where they were lied to – it was basically “which bucket is the food under.” They tested to see how much the dog’s behavior was affected by what the person was communicating to them. The evidence showed that more dogs responded when they were told the truth rather than a lie. These results indicated that the dogs know when they were lied to and made their decisions accordingly.
* Thanks for all those details, scientists, you’ve really cleared things up regarding lying to dogs.
* Of course, dogs are still suckers for the trick where you show the dog you’re behind a blanket in the doorway, then you slip away from the doorway while dropping the blanket and you’ve disappeared.
* How about an experiment where you show them the food is under the bucket, but when you lift it up again it’s the vet?
* So, when we say “go get the ball,” but we didn’t actually throw the ball but they go after it anyway, they’ve just been humoring us for the past 35,000 years?