Humans are absolutely terrible at reading dog emotions, study finds

We like to think we can tell exactly how our dogs are feeling – but a new study suggests many of us are getting it completely backwards.

Researchers at Arizona State University (ASU) found that when people are put in a good mood, they’re more likely to think a dog looks sad. And when people feel a bit down, they tend to decide the same dog looks happy.

This is the opposite of how we read other humans – when we interact with other people, we tend to interpret their emotions as similar to our own.

“In this domain of how people understand dogs’ emotions, I’m continuously surprised,” said study co-author Clive Wynne. “We’re just scratching the surface of what is turning out to be quite a big mystery.”

“If we can better understand how we perceive animal emotions, we can better care for them,” said first author Dr Holly Molinaro, at the time a PhD student at ASU studying animal behaviour.

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