Research indicates that having a dog not only improves your health and happiness but also enhances your character. Surprisingly, dogs have the ability to sense when people are lying to them.
If you knowingly deceive your dog, it can sense the truth.
To demonstrate dogs' ability to distinguish between truth and lies, researchers at the University of Vienna studied 260 different dog breeds.
To conduct the study, researchers employed a 2-bowl trick. One bowl remained empty while the other contained a hidden treat.
First, the dogs were trained to follow the instructions of a specific person to determine which bowl contained the hidden treat.
Upon successfully choosing the correct bowl, they received the treat
Following the initial training, the researchers continued to demonstrate the trick to the dogs. The dogs would watch as another person moved the treat from one bowl to another.
In some cases, a third person was present as a silent observer. The same experiment was then conducted with only the second person giving instructions or even the third person providing the instructions.
The second person not only deliberately tricked the dogs but also gave advice by pointing to the incorrect and empty bowl.
Surprisingly, when the dogs were aware that the person was trying to deceive them, they ignored the advice. This led the researchers to conclude that the dogs could differentiate between truth and lies.
In another case, the third person would be absent when the second one did the switching.
Later, the third person would return, but they had no knowledge of where the treat was placed and would randomly point to one of the bowls. Since the third person was not present during the treat-switching, the dogs tended not to take advice from them.
This evidence strongly indicated that the dogs were aware that the third person lacked information about the treat's location, so they didn't listen to them.
