Guilty Look: Can Dogs Be Ashamed? Cynologists Say
Many pet owners wonder if dogs can feel guilt.
Let's figure out whether animals really feel ashamed as people do.
Guilt or imitation?
The President of the Russian Cynological Federation, Vladimir Golubev, in a conversation with Moskovsky Komsomolets , decided to dot all the i's and cross all the t's.
The expert noted that no matter how smart a dog is, it still remains an animal.
Consequently, moral concepts are alien to her. What we take for a guilty look is in fact a mirror reaction to our own emotions.
Dogs that live with humans for a long time have learned to react to people's emotions accordingly. That is, when the owner scolds the animal, the dog's supposedly guilty look is just a signal of reconciliation in response to aggression.
The animal understands that the person is unhappy with it and wants peace to reign between it and the owner. This is indicated not only by that guilty look, but also by the hunched back, ears pressed to the head and the head turned away.
Earlier we wrote about how to understand what a dog wants to say.
