Animals & nature · 2021
Do dogs react differently when someone won't give them a reward versus when someone can't?
Yes. In a behavioral experiment, dogs reacted differently when a person deliberately withheld a reward than when she failed to give it because she was clumsy or physically prevented from doing so. The dogs went without the reward in each condition, suggesting they distinguished intentional from unintentional actions, though this does not establish how they understood the person's intentions.
Details
Everyday reactions to people do not by themselves show whether dogs distinguish kinds of human actions or simply respond to their outcomes. Researchers tested this by exposing every dog to all the reward-withholding conditions: the experimenter deliberately refused to give the reward, failed through clumsiness, or was physically prevented from giving it.
The dogs' spontaneous behavior clearly differed between deliberate refusal and inability to deliver the reward. Because the outcome was the same, the finding supports the idea that dogs can distinguish intentional from unintentional actions in this setting. The abstract does not describe the specific behaviors, the size of the differences, or the number and characteristics of the dogs. It also leaves open how deeply dogs understand human intentions.
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