In rebuttal of the statement that animal communication is
inclusively instinctual and not learned, studies have been conducted with domestic dogs
and wolves brought up in captivity around humans. While dogs that are pets watch the
faces of humans and react according to their expressions, the wolves or wolf-mix dogs do
not generally pay attention to the owner's expressions. Therefore, it seems safe to say
that pet dogs have learned what certain facial expressions mean and they react
according.
...a new study has found that dogs
are able to tell the difference between happy and angry human facial expressions. (
"Animal Minds" inNational
Geographic magazine.)
Of
high intelligence on the scale of animals, dogs have learned from experience that
certain reactions and voice level come from an owner depending upon the facial
expression. They have also learned that certain behaviors of theirs elicit certain
facial expressions and reactions from their owners.This fact is verified by biologist
Corsin Muller of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna Austria. In this study
eleven dogs, among which were a fox terrier, border collies, a German Shepherd, a Golden
Retriever, and several mixed breeds, were trained to touch a screen that had either a
happy face or an angry face for a treat.
To ensure that the
dogs were not simply responding to just a smile or some single expression, they were
shown either top parts of a face or the bottom parts. The dogs were shown strange faces
(the left side of the face was used as dogs seem to prefer looking at this side), yet
the ones trained to identify happy faces were consistently able to do so. Other dogs
were trained to select the angry ones. Interestingly, more training was necessary for
the angry faces, possibly because the results of angry faces were negative (no belly
rubs or treats); nevertheless, the dogs identified these angry
faces.
While there may be no scientific proof, many a pet
owner will adamantly assert that his/her pet communicates with him/her. For instance,
one dog owner once had an intelligent mutt who "could not lie about her misbehavior."
Whenever she had eaten something not intended for her or done something wrong, if the
owner questioned her "Did you do this?" in a certain tone of voice, she would sit up,
and make a unique noise, hang her head, and nervously tap her tail quickly on the floor.
If she had not done the action under question she would not move her tail, and she
looked straight at the owner. Her answers were correct 100% of the time, the owner
asserted. Another owner of a horse spoke several times about how her horse seemed to
intuitively know what she was thinking sometimes. For instance, she stopped during her
ride one time to decide at a fork which path to take (she had never been there before).
After a couple of minutes she decided. At the very moment at which she made up her mind,
her horse, who had been munching on grass while waiting, suddenly jerked its head up and
went toward the path which deviated from the one on which they had been; this was the
one upon which the owner had decided. While scientists have contended that man has
ignored his sixth sense so long that it is diminished, this horse seems to have
it.
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