Dogs are more intelligent than previously thought.
A new study shows that dogs might be able to understand things from a human perspective.
The study tested 84 different dogs, 42 males and 42 females, to see if they were more likely to steal food that a human commanded them not to eat when the lights were turned off and humans couldn’t see them.
The results of the study show that dogs change their behavior based on their owner’s perspective, as they were four times more likely to steal the forbidden food when the lights were turned off.
Assuming that the dogs were able to understand if the human in the room could see them steal the food or not, this study is an interesting test of dogs’ behavior in relationship to the humans around them.
Doctor Juliane Kaminski from the University of Portsmouth, who worked on the research project said: "The results of these tests suggest that dogs are deciding it's safer to steal the food when the room is dark because they understand something of the human's perspective."
What do you think? Can dogs understand a human’s perspective enough to take advantage of limitations like darkness?
