Do you think you understand your dog? Think again.

Dogs can’t speak, but their body language says a lot. Many dogs will bow when they want to play, or lick their mouths, for example and look away when they are nervous or scared.

But people are not always good at the interpretation of such tips – and even their notices, Suggests a new study.

In the study, scientists presented people about dogs about a dog reacting to positive and negative stimuli, including a leash, feast, vacuum cleaner and caravo. Asked to assess the dog’s emotions, viewers seemed to pay more attention to situational guidelines than the actual behavior of the dog, even when the films were edited as deliberately misleading. (For example, in one film, the dog, which seemed to react at the sight of his leash, actually showed the vacuum by the owner.

“As for the perception of emotions for dogs, we think that we know what is happening, but in fact we subconsciously rely on many other factors,” said Holly Molinaro, who is a PhD student at Arizona State University and the first author of the fresh article, which was published on Monday in Anthromoös.

Molinaro said that this prejudice can mislead owners about the well -being of their dogs. People who want to pay attention to the experience and emotions of their dog must “sacrifice a second or two to focus on the dog, and not on everything that is happening,” she said.

The idea for the study was born in 2021, when Mrs. Molinaro was just starting a doctoral dissertation in dog emotions, but Pandemia Covid-19 significantly reduced her ability to conduct personal tests.

She was inspired by research that examines how contextual guidelines affect people’s perception of the emotions of others. She was also inspired by the technology from the time of Pandemic: Zoom. Video -conference software has a function that throws out the background of employees. Mrs. Molinaro and her adviser, Clive Wartne-Ekspert for Płosa in the state of Arizona-began to wonder if they could do something similar, creating movies that allowed people to see the dog’s behavior, not seeing what is developing around him.

And so, visiting her parents in Connecticut, Mrs. Molinaro began to record movies from her hometown of Oliver, a 14-year-old mix of the Beagle indicator, interacting with her father. In some films, Mrs. Molinaro’s father did things that Oliver probably responded positively, for example, showing him a leash or toy. In others, he did things that would probably cause more negative reactions, such as gently Karczenia Oliver or present him a Molinaro cat, saffron. (“He wasn’t a fan,” she said)

Then, after the course of the disaster in the video editing, Molinaro created versions of each film that removed the whole situational context, leaving Oliver’s recording on a black background.

Scientists asked hundreds of students to watch both sets of films and evaluate Oliver’s emotional state in each clip. When the respondents evaluated the original films, they assessed Oliver’s emotions as more positive in positive scenarios than in negative. But when the context was removed, they assessed Oliver’s emotions as equally positive in both types of situations.

Then the scientists went a step further, combining the recording of various situations – showing, for example, Father Mrs. Molinaro, presenting a vacuum next to Oliver’s reaction to his leash.

The viewers seemed to be more excited about the context than Oliver’s behavior. When Mrs. Molinaro’s father was presented, doing something positive, Oliver’s emotions subjected to them are positive, even if he was shot at something negative.

“There is no evidence that people actually see a dog,” said Dr. Wybne. “It seems that they have a kind of huge dead point around the dog.”

The study has restrictions, including the behavior of only one dog. Dr. Wybne said that people can also achieve better results when they were asked to assess the emotions of their own dogs and would probably notice signs of intensive terror or trauma. (Scientists did not give Oliver to any extremely negative experiences).

Despite this, he hoped that the examination would be awakening for pets owners. “I take it to heart in my life,” said Dr. Wybne, who recently accepted the retired Greyhound racing.

“I make it a project to find out how it is expressed,” he added. “Because if I know what makes her joyful and unhappy, well, I can lead her life towards greater happiness.”

Unfortunately, Oliver did not live long enough to see the published study. “But it’s sweet that she is commemorated in these research,” said Molinaro.