Dogs Can Tell Whether You Are Happy Or Angry By Looking At Your Face

If you are a dog lover than you have probably long suspected that man’s best friend can tell whether you are angry or happy just by looking at your face. If you believed this to be the case, the science is now backing you up. Researchers in Vienna trained a number of dogs to differentiate between happy or angry faces through a reward system. In subsequent tests, the researchers showed the dogs an image of a human face they had previously never seen and the dogs were able to spot the difference between expressions.

Studying how humans and dogs interact

The results of the study were published in the journal Current Biology and are actually part of a more extensive project designed to learn more about how humans interact with their canine companions. Lead researcher Professor Ludwig Huber says the main focus of the research is the big question of communication. The scientists are interested to know why dogs are so well adapted to human beings and what took place during the process of their domestication.

20 dogs participated in the study

The scientists constructed an experiment which involved showing 20 dogs half pictures of human faces. They were either the upper eye area or the lower mouth region of happy or angry faces. Half of the dogs were given a reward when they touched a happy face with their nose, whilst the other half of the dogs received a treat for touching an angry face.

Only half the dogs performed well enough to be tested

Over time about fifty per cent of the dogs learned to perform the task well enough to be tested and the scientists devised a number of other tests to see whether the dogs were able to tell the difference in mood solely on the basis of facial expression. They did this either by showing them different parts of a face or by showing faces they had never seen before.

Dogs really don’t like angry faces

The ability of dogs to recognise whether a person was angry or happy by showing them the opposite half of the face they had already seen suggest they have the ability to transfer their knowledge of human expressions. Dr Kun Guo a psychologist says that it really looks like dogs can discriminate between angry and happy. He goes on to say however that the results do not show whether dogs understood the meaning of those emotions. Professor Huber agrees and adds that the dogs who were rewarded by touching an angry face took three times as long to learn the task. He thinks this is because they really do not like to touch an angry face.