Dogs are calculating cheaters. Especially when a reward is involved

Dog is man’s best friend? This is true, but when sausage is involved, they can forget about friendship for a while. A Zurich study suggests that dogs are capable of deception and manipulation, especially if it involves a reward.

New research suggests dogs are sneaky cheaters, especially when a favorite pet treat is involved. It turns out that dogs can manipulate humans and get what they want from them.

Marianne Heberlein, która studies the cognitive abilities of animals at the University of Zurich, she observed in her own home how one of her petsów feigning interest in some event outside, lured a second dog out of the pen to take its place. This inspired her to conduct research on manipulation abilities in dogsów.

The researcher began to wonder if dogs are also capable of fooling humans. Decided to conduct an experiment in whichóhe study was attended by owners of dogsóin with their pets, as well as people unknown to dogs. Individuals whoórs that the dogs did not know were divided into groups. Some gave treats to the dogs, while others kept them for themselves.

The dogs were designed to lead the poólne individuals to three boxes. Hidden in the boxes were tasty sausage, dry food, and the third box was empty. The pets in the very króIn a short time, they learned to recognize people wspócooperating, that is, giving them treats from waspsób competitors, whoóre treats they kept to themselves. They also understood that they could deliberately mislead a competitor by leading them to an empty box, then they still retain a chance for a juicy sausage.

Researchers were surprised by the timing of theórym dogs have developed the behavior that gives them the most benefit. It took the sharpest dog manipulators just two days. During the second day of the test, the dogs led the competitor to the empty box more often than chance would indicate. It’s not hard to guess that pet ownersów were far more likely than the rest to stand by the sausage box, którima they gave to their dogs.

– Such behavior in dogsów happen quite often, but are poorly studied. During the study, the dogs showed impressive flexibility in their behavior. The dogs stuck to certain rules, but they also thought of options, które they have and whichóre may bring them more benefits – Heberlein said.

Many ps ownersów are aware of the sneaky tricks and prób manipulation of their petów. Most, however, can’t resist them. As a result, dogs get what they want.

The results of the researchers’ work were published in the journal „Animal Cognition”.