How Can I Clean My Dog's Ears

Are Dogs Really Smiling at Us?

What a good dog! (Image credit: Shutterstock)

The dog'southward mouth opens wide, her lips pull upwards at the corners, and her tongue lolls out. Most would look at this face up and see an unmistakable grinning. But is that actually what's going on here? Practise dogs use this expression in the same way as people, to convey their joy, pleasance or contentedness?

In other words, are dogs really smile at united states?

The answer has roots in our 30,000-twelvemonth history of keeping dogs every bit domesticated animals. Thanks to that history, humans and dogs have adult a unique bond, which has also made dogs very useful subjects for the study of advice. "Studying dogs is a really unique opportunity to look at social communication between species," said Alex Benjamin, an associate lecturer in psychology, who studies dog knowledge at the University of York in the United Kingdom. [twenty Weird Canis familiaris and Cat Behaviors Explained by Science]

Most of this research also reinforces the idea that the communicative bond we share with dogs is unique. For instance, researchers have found that dogs embrace the human being gaze and utilise eye contact in a way that few other animals do.

A study published in the journal Current Biological science tested how wolves and dogs would answer to the impossible task of opening a container to get at some meat they knew was inside. The researchers found that while the wolves would simply stalk off when they discovered they couldn't open it, dogs would turn around and requite humans a long, inquiring gaze — suggesting that these animals knew a person could help them complete the job.

Some other study, published in the journal Science, found that both dogs and humans experience an increase in levels of oxytocin — a hormone that plays a function in social bonding — when they lock eyes with one some other. Fifty-fifty more intriguing, dogs that sniffed oxytocin would and so spend more fourth dimension staring at humans.

"[A shared gaze] is the fundamental mechanism for cooperation if you retrieve almost it," especially if, like dogs, you can't rely on voice communication, Benjamin told Live Science. Humans may have bred this trait into dogs over the form of their domestication, she said. "Dogs that look at us are much easier to cooperate with and train. So, information technology is possible that some unconscious or witting pick may also have led to the behaviors nosotros run into today."

In any instance, it's clear that heart contact is important to dogs as a way to intentionally gather data and communicate.

But what about the expressions that cross their faces? Do these have any relevance to humans — and do dogs use them to communicate with us?

That question is intriguing, said Juliane Kaminski, a reader in comparative psychology at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom, who studies domestic dog knowledge. She said she'due south particularly interested in one particularly adorable expression in dogs: the inward raising of the brows that produces what's known equally "puppy canis familiaris optics."

For her enquiry, Kaminski and colleagues visited a dog shelter, where they used something called a facial action coding system (FACS) to measure the infinitesimal facial motions dogs made while they interacted with people. Afterward, the researchers kept track of the time it took for each canis familiaris to get adopted. The scientists discovered that "the more the dogs produced that movement [puppy dog eyes], the quicker they were rehomed," said Kaminski. No other beliefs the researchers analyzed had every bit strong an effect. [Is a Canis familiaris's Mouth Cleaner Than a Homo'south?]

Next, Kaminski wanted to find out if this behavior was intentional. "Take [dogs] either understood or learned that if they produce that movement, humans will do something for them?" Kaminski said. So, she set some other experiment, in which dogs were exposed to humans who either did or didn't offer food. If dogs knew the power of their sorrowful gaze, it would follow that those presented with the possibility of a snack would employ information technology more often to get what they desired.

But … they didn't. While dogs were more expressive when they looked at humans — reinforcing the idea that eye contact is important for canine communication — the animals used their soppy-eyed expression only as much whether or not there was nutrient involved. It's possible that humans unconsciously selected for this adorable trait equally we domesticated canines, considering "information technology resembles a movement that we produce when we are sorry. So it kind of triggers this nurturing response," Kaminski said. "Just that doesn't necessarily mean dogs have learned to exploit that."

That brings us to the "smile." Does your dog's wide-mouthed expression bear the aforementioned significance as a man grin? Kaminski advised caution. "I've had a dog all my life, so I know that if you know your dog really well, you're able to read its behaviors. I've got no trouble with giving certain behaviors a label," she said. "Simply equally a scientist, of course, I say, 'How would we know that?' We have goose egg data telling us what this actually means."

The trouble with dog expressions is that our research tools are typically subjective, and paired with our anthropomorphizing tendencies, it's very possible that nosotros misinterpret what we see on dogs' faces.

In fact, at that place's very piddling objective research to support the idea that dogs "smile." Some findings, published in the periodical Scientific Reports, show that this item expression, called "relaxed open mouth" in dogs, typically occurs in positive settings, like when dogs are inviting one another to play. But whether it's really what we would telephone call a smile, or whether dogs are directing it at the states intentionally to communicate something, remains unknown.

To answer that question, nosotros'd need more-objective research techniques — such as FACS similar Kaminski used — to determine how specific facial expressions correlate with detail situations and what precisely motivates those expressions. That'southward needed for all dog expressions, which are generally understudied, Kaminski said. [Why Do Dogs Wag Their Tails?]

This revelation is probably unsettling for any domestic dog owner who has interpreted that upturned, open mouth as a grin all these years. Simply in some means, it doesn't matter, considering in that location is so much other proof of our special relationship with dogs.

Consider that they're the only creatures we know of that can successfully follow and sympathise human gestures, like pointing. Fifty-fifty chimps, our closest relatives, tin't follow this communicative cue as well as dogs can. Also, canines actually show a preference for certain types of spoken language, as Benjamin has establish in her research. She discovered that dogs prefer the company of humans who not only used domestic dog-related phrases like "Who's a proficient boy?" but likewise spoke to the animals in higher-pitched, sing-songy voices.

And so, whether or non we can share a friendly smile with our four-legged friends, it's clear that they understand us in surprisingly nuanced ways. Benjamin said we ought to exist motivated by this to go better, more sensitive communicators ourselves.

"Dogs are already and so good at agreement us. They tin can sympathise very subtle cues," Benjamin said. "So it'due south our task as the humans to give them the cues to understand how to cooperate with us."

And if you want to smiling while you're at it — why not?