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Here's today's feel-good story:
Dogs know when someone is taking deliberate action, or making a mistake, new research suggests.
Dr. Britta Schunemann said, “The dogs in our study clearly behaved differently depending on whether the actions of a human experimenter were intentional or unintentional.”
For thousands of years, dogs have bonded with humans and are capable of understanding commands. But what has been unknown is whether the dog can understand intentions, or just respond to outcomes.
“If dogs are indeed able to ascribe intention-in-action to humans we would expect them to show different reactions in the unwilling condition compared to the two unable conditions. As it turns out, this is exactly what we observed.” said study co-author Dr. Juliane Brauer.