Week’s Review of Canine Social Media – 8/6/22

By Doggieuk9
/ August 6, 2022
/ Blog, Weekend Updates
/ Tags: Dogs can be deceptive, People - Dog look alike

Welcome to the Week’s Review of Canine Social Media

Welcome to this Special Feature on the DoggieU K9 Blog for an update on this week’s dog-related media and social media from around the world. There are so many stories. Here we will share some of the best stories this week.

Enjoy & share them.

Your Dog Is Using Deception To Get More Treats, A Study Has Found

We all know that dogs are very smart. They can guide the blind and follow complex instructions and detect cancer. But a study has found that they can use deceptive tactics to get their treats.

The study was conducted by the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Experimental Studies at the University of Zürich and was published in the journal Animal Cognition.
Lead researcher, Marianne Heberlein, began the study after observing her own pet dogs engaging in deceptive behavior. She explained that one of her dogs would pretend to see something interesting outside the house, promoting the other dog to give up his sleeping spot. Now, anyone that has a dog in the family knows how cheeky they can be, many owners get sucked in their “feed-me eyes.”
Dr. Heberlein wanted to look into these observations, and further investigate whether dogs use this same deceptive behavior with humans.
The study tested 27 dogs who were then paired with two different partners. One of the dog’s partners would approach the dogs bowl, grab a treat, and give it to the dog. The other partner would show the dog the treat but then put it in their pocket. How rude! As you would expect, the dogs showed a preference to the partner who fed them treats.
The study then began investigating a three-way choice task to see whether the dogs were able to mislead the partner that withheld the treat, i.e. if they are capable of tactical deception.
During the training, the dogs were led by the two partners to the bowls and then by their owners. During the test, the dogs had the option to lead one of these partners to one of the three potential food locations: one contained a favored food item, the other a non-preferred food item and the third remained empty. After their choice, their owners would then lead the dogs to choose from the remaining boxes, and if the dog chose a treat, it would always get it.
This process was repeated over multiple days.
The research found that the when the dogs were with the partner who withheld treats, they would more often than not choose the bowl without a treat, knowing they were never going to get it anyway. So, when they chose from the remaining boxes with their owners, they had a higher probability of getting a treat.
Psychologist Stanley Coren from Psychology Today explained that “It is as though the dog is thinking, ‘Why should I tell that selfish person where the best treat [is] if it means that I will never get it?’.

Results show

The author concluded “These results show that dogs distinguished between the cooperative (treat) and the competitive (no treat) partner. “And indicate the flexibility of dogs to adjust their behavior and that they are able to use tactical deception,” she said.

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The Resemblance Is Uncanny

Like owner, like a dog… This saying has never been so right before. Why? Just take a look at this fun series of dogs that look like their owners created by British photographer Gerrard Gethings. He is known for his funny dog portraits that are always full of character.