How Dogs Can Recognize a Bad Person (And Other Dog Incredible Abilities Explained)
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Published 2021-12-17
Dogs can detect a mean person
According to a study published in the journal of Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, dogs can tell when someone is mean to you!
In three different scenarios, a dog owner was trying to open a container that was tightly sealed with an actor standing next to them. The first actor helped open the container, the second was passive, and the third outright refused to help.
Scientists found that the dogs were much more likely to accept a treat from the actor who tried to help and showed kindness toward the owner.
Most dogs also accepted food from the passive actor, but they were not willing to trust the person who didn’t lend a hand.
Dogs can detect liars
Another study conducted in Japan followed a similar experiment to find out if dogs can recognize an untrustworthy person.
In this experiment, the scientists placed two containers near the dogs. One had treats inside, but the other was empty. In the first test, a person pointed to the container that concealed a treat, but the second time, the person pointed to the empty container instead.
The dogs were happy to find the treat the first round, but were disappointed when they found out they were lied to in the second time. Then, the third round, the person pointed to the container with the treat again. However, that time, the dogs did not go for it. That person had been untrustworthy and deceitful in the second round, and the dog remembered that.
Dogs can remember their owner’s scent forever
Dogs can remember the scent of their owners for their entire life.
A dog’s memory is so complex that they will remember emotions associated with their owner or a person they met. The association of how that person made the dog feel remains stored in the dog’s brain.
When a dog recognizes a particular scent associated with a human that has brought them joy, a particular portion of their brain is triggered, and they remember them.
Studies have shown that an owner’s scent activates the pleasure centers in the dog’s brain. It’s similar to the way the human brain responds to the perfume or cologne of a loved one.
Dogs can interpret facial expressions.
In a touchscreen experiment in Austria, scientists put dogs to the test.
When the dogs were shown angry or happy faced pictures of people they hadn’t seen before, they were still able to tell the difference and earn that reward.
The scientists say that the experiment proves that dogs can discriminate between the two human expressions. Dogs had a natural aversion to pressing their noses against pictures of angry faces. This means that our furry friends have some knowledge about the meaning behind human expressions.
Dogs can smell bad intentions
If your dog barks at some people, but not the others, it could be that your dog picks up on subconscious signals you send about those people.
Outwardly, you may be being welcoming and friendly to a person, but your dog will notice tiny, subconscious signals that you are not completely comfortable around that person.
Your dog can sense when you are nervous because your body produces certain stress-related chemicals and hormones that have distinctive odors.
On that note, remember that dogs can smell fear. In a study of 694 people, the scientists found a link between an individual’s emotional state and their likelihood of getting bitten. Confident and emotionally stable people didn't get bitten nearly as often as those who feel anxious around intimidating dogs.
Dogs can read your body language.
According to animal behavior specialists, canines will pick up on every move a dog or human makes.
This is because dogs rely on canine body language to assess their own safety when they are around other dogs.
Dogs can smell serious illnesses
Believe it or not, dogs can detect cancer. Simply by sniffing someone’s body.
A study conducted at the University of California Davis has shown that dogs can detect Cancer-affected tissues out of many samples.
Dogs can even be life-savers for people with diabetes.
A dog’s super nose can also predict seizures, and migraines, and can detect malaria and Parkinson’s disease.
Now, let’s talk about why dogs bark at some dogs, but not the others.
While humans communicate using words, dogs mainly communicate through their body language and scent.
Your dog may bark at some dogs because they show threatening body language and have an off-putting scent.
All Comments (21)
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"I'll never trust a person that doesn't like a dog, but I'll always trust a dog that doesn't like a person" - Bill Murry
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"The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog." - Mark Twain
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Ann Rule mentioned this in her book The Stranger Beside Me. The title refers to Ted Bundy, who was a coworker of hers for a while, and she had no idea he was capable of the crimes he committed. She wrote, "The only clue I had was that my dog (who liked everyone) didn't like Ted at all. Whenever he bent over my desk at the Crisis Clinic, she growled and the hackles on her neck stood up. The lesson is clear: Pay attention to your dog!"
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Once, I had a job interview, and I had to go to my boss house. She had a dog, and the dog seemed to like me. In the end of the interview, the dog came in the room and sat between my legs, asking for a hug. My boss watched my reaction and interaction, and hired me for that. No joke.
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I used to share a house with a friend who had a Labrador, we spent many days out in the woods together etc. I eventually moved away and never saw my friend or his dog for over five years. The first time I visited him again his dog instantly recognised me. He was over joyed to see me. He’s since died. Have many good memories with him. RIP Samson
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Used to work with an old guy who was liked by dogs EVERYWHERE he went. He was a great person.
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I had a doberman. I had throat cancer and she slept across my throat when I came home from radiation treatment. I beat it but 4 yrs later she died of throat cancer on the same spot as I had it. RIP Madie you will always be in my heart and mind.
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The part about dogs forever memorizing smells of people important to them made me take a trip down memory lane. When I was little more than a toddler, our neighbor had a Shiba which was still an extremely rare and unknown breed here in Europe at the end of the 90s. Fatefuly, we were both born the same month of the same year and ended up growing up next to each other, a green see-through fence separating us. The dog, named Luis, wasn't happy : his owner never took him out to walk, was rarely at home and he didn't really take much care of him. So Luis decided he wanted to stay with us and dug a passage under the fence to come over to our garden. Every single day after his owner went to work, he would crawl under the fence, come spend the day with me and then go back to his house in the evening before his owner returned. When I was 4, due to my father's work, we moved to a different country and got separated. A decade later, teenager me came back to where I spent the first years of my life. I went to the front gate of Luis house and, before I could even call his name I saw him, now an old dog, cruising out of the house followed by a younger Shiba. The younger Shiba stayed a bit back, watching me with a mix of curiosity and wariness ; Luis, on the other hand, was so happy he was screaming and jumping all over the place. In that moment, I was certain : after almost 10 years apart he still remembered me, still recognized me. This was the last time I got to see him and it still breaks my heart that I couldn't just open the gate and cuddle him in my arms.
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My immediate family once had a dog who no doubt knew that I had a pacemaker. She'd come into my room almost every morning without fail, do a perimeter check, then come over to me and sniff my face. If I sniffed back, she knew I was okay and she left. I loved that about her. RIP Angel 🥰
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The part about a dog's memory of an owner's scent is very true. My dad adopted my dog after I moved away. I was 22 at the time and I thought a puppy was just what I needed. I had my dog for about 4 or 5 months before I realized I wasn't home enough to provide her with the life she deserved. My dad had just retired and he said he would take the 9 month old pup and give her a great life. I knew it was the right thing to do. She always loved me though, and anytime I would visit, she always stuck by my side. My dad became her favorite person. But he died 13 years later, one day when he was cutting wood with the dog, in the woods behind the house. When Mom found him, the dog was asleep in the truck. She had no idea what had happened. After he died, my dog never stopped watching for him to come home. Mom would come home in the car and the dog would see her park from the front window of the house. My mom would open the front door and the dog would whine and cry looking for dad as she circled the car. Then after she couldn't find him, she'd come in and greet mom. It was just mom and the dog in the house after that. The dog never really loved my mom like she loved my father or myself, she never quite understood that it was just mom and her left. She thought dad would be home tomorrow. At night, the dog would sleep on the couch in the living room, waiting for my dad to come through the door. For 3 years it was like this. By this time my dog was 16 years old, arthritic, mostly deaf, and mostly blind, with roughly 6 teeth left in her mouth. She required a special diet and we needed to take extra care to preserve her kidney functions. One night, I drove to Mom's house and I didn't get there until midnight or 1. The living room light was left on for me, and there was my dog, asleep on the couch. She didn't hear me come through the door and the light didn't keep her up. She was snoring in her little doggy sort of way. I brought my bags inside and gently walked to my room. I sat my things down on the bed and returned to see if the commotion had woken up the dog. I must have been quiet enough, because I did not wake her. So, I walked beside her little sleeping body and waved my hand to blow my scent over her face. Her little nose began to wiggle as she started to take short chopping sniffs as her head lifted from the pillow. She didn't even have her eyes opened before she started to whine and cry in excitement. She got up as fast as she could and wiggled her old bones all over the place as she became filled with joy. I will never forget that night. My scent was all it took to wake her up from a very deep sleep. She died of a stroke about 3 months later, she was 2 months shy of her 17th birthday. I held her as she died. I was her last smell, I hope it was enough to stir a great memory together, as she slipped away forever.
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I have a service dog for multiple medical issues. I love that they mentioned migraines with the seizures. I have both, and My gsd warns me of both, among other things. She saves my life everyday.
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What’s crazy is this actually happened to me! My dog and I were going for our daily walk. Typically, when people would walk past, she’d either wanna greet, or just totally ignore the person. This one day, there was a guy passing by us and I noticed my pup sat on my feet (facing away from me) and started growling and not taking her eye off him. The guy was so spooked, he went to the opposite side of the street. I always suspected she did this b/c she detected something and wanted to protect me. Who knows….my pup is prob the reason I was able to return home that night 🤔🥹🥰
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I miss my dog so much. She passed away last year. 15 years of unwavering loyal companionship and unconditional love. From a newborn pup all the way till her last day, she has been in my life. Please treat your canine companion with love and respect. They're gone before you know it.
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When my brother and I moved away for college our dog didn't know how to react. My parents told me she would sleep in our rooms at night waiting for us to come home. It got so bad that she wouldn't eat. I got an apartment that allowed pets and moved her up there for her final years.
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My best friend used to work as a veterinarian's assistant. Dogs didn't like her too much outside the vet clinic because she smelled like the vet clinic. She thought it had a lot to do with assisting during euthanasia procedures and the scents that go along with death. Now she's a horseback riding instructor and horse trainer and all dogs love her.
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Any dog I see or meet is happy to see me even though I'm a stranger to them. They sense my intense love for them.
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My parents ran a pub when I was growing up that we also lived in, and they had a regular customer who our dog HATED. She hated him so much that she'd bark any time he so much as drove by the pub. He seemed like a good guy so they never understood why she despised him specifically. Many years later my mum ran into one of his daughters and it turns out he was horribly abusive them.
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I trust my dog first. When he shows alarm around a new person, I listen carefully. Horses, cats, etc. have shown me the same respect. He was invaluable while I was temporarily homeless. He took treats and wagged his tail at many of the people around me. There were a few he flew into a rage whenever they got near me. He was right; and I took the hint. Usually, others came forward to quietly inform me that the dog had good instincts. He is a rescue, who has rescued me many, many times since. I show him the kindness and care that he has always shown towards me. I don't know how they do it; but I trust the process. Animals have many senses that we lack; we need their help. Rats can find mines or survivors in the rubble, dogs can alert to cancer, seizures, help a blind person see, etc. Respect them.
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I 100% trust my dog with letting me know who I'm safe around. I have ptsd and she's not officially a service dog, but she may as well be. dogs are so much more intelligent than most people know. little furry angels 💜
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its beautiful to see that animals and humans can co-exist and help each other. save the animals! and humans!
