What’s Up With Your Dog Getting That Guilty Look?

In the new issue of Canine Behavior and Cognition, some Barnard College psychologists tried to decode why dogs get that “I-may-or-may-not-have-pooped-in-your-closet” look on their faces from time to time.

Photo credit: iStockphoto/Mark Coffey

To find out, scientists basically played some Jedi mind tricks on the dogs. Says Science Daily: “During the study, owners were asked to leave the room after ordering their dogs not to eat a tasty treat. While the owner was away, [scientist Alexandra] Horowitz gave some of the dogs this forbidden treat before asking the owners back into the room. In some trials the owners were told that their dog had eaten the forbidden treat; in others, they were told their dog had behaved properly and left the treat alone…. Dogs looked most “guilty” if they were admonished by their owners for eating the treat. In fact, dogs that had been obedient and had not eaten the treat, but were scolded by their (misinformed) owners, looked more “guilty” than those that had, in fact, eaten the treat.”

So turns out, your dog only gets that sad, sheepish look because you’ve already condemned him of some crime. Even if he’s completely innocent. Nice, huh? I read this and started to feel like a real a-hole for all the times I’ve blamed my dog for things.

But then I realized that it would’ve been close to impossible for “some other dog” to have broken into my apartment and ripped 400 of the 498 pages of Twilight out of the book and strewn them about. And it’s pretty damn unlikely that my dog walker was the one who chewed up that tube of toothpaste while I was at work. And I’m fairly certain that new pee stain on the carpet isn’t from me sleep-walking last night. 

Yeah, I get that we have the tendency to interpret animal behavior in human terms. But until Riley can prove her innocence when the evidence is damning, she’s probably going to get in trouble. For at least like five seconds.