If you have ever been a dog parent, you must have come across that “look” in the eyes of your loyal companion. Perhaps you discover your slippers shredded to pieces, or the food you left on the plate is mysteriously missing, and your four-legged friend is found sitting at the corner of the room with its head down, ears back, and tail tucked. It seems they are clearly trying to cover up for the mess they have made.
Thus, that makes dog enthusiasts curious about whether dogs really feel guilt or shame. How else can we define those expressions? So, let us delve deeper into this and what it means when your dog appears guilty.
The guilty feeling, not exactly
If the research works of scientists are to be believed, they are certain that dogs never feel guilt in the way we humans do. Experts have conducted a wide array of studies, and the results show something very interesting. Dogs actually display guilty behaviors, even when they haven’t done anything wrong. It suggests that a guilty look is largely based on the reaction of their human parent, instead of their own sense of doing something awful. Your furry friend can efficiently read your voice tone, posture, and emotional energy, and respond accordingly. It may include signs as follows:
- Lowering their head
- Avoiding eye contact
- Licking their lips.
- Tucking their tail.
- Flattening their ears.
- Slow and steady movements.
By no means are these signs of guilt; instead, you can reckon the aforementioned as signs of submission. Without doubt, dogs are geniuses when it comes to reading the emotions of humans. They keep a track of their owners’ expressions and adjust their behavior accordingly. Owners should also watch the way their dog’s tail wagging and it can help understanding about them a lot.
So what are they actually feeling?
However, it is not right to say that, since dogs do not feel guilt, they are emotionless. They do feel fear, love, joy, anxiety, anticipation, and excitement. For them to feel the sense of guilt and shame requires a sense of self-awareness, which even toddlers (humans) do not possess until they reach a certain age. Then again, dogs do not have the power to think. Therefore, they will never feel they have done something wrong and regret it. As mentioned before, they sense their human parent is upset, and they need to do something to protect themselves, and this is what creates that “guilty look”.
Reasons that make that “guilty look” feel so realistic
The reason that makes them look guilty is that they are reacting to the reactions of their favorite humans and not their actions. As has been said and confirmed, dogs excel in reading human body language, and it is better than any other species on earth. Dogs, irrespective of their breeds, can sense it efficiently when:
- The tone of their owner’s changes.
- The breathing becomes faster due to anger.
- You stand taller or lean forward.
- Your footsteps sound heavier than before.
- Your eyebrows are tense.
Each of the above signs makes them realize their human parent isn’t happy about something. Thus, without even knowing the actions they performed, they display the looks that seem like guilt, but actually, it is not so.
The memory of a dog is different than ours
Well, another reason that makes dogs not feel guilty is due to the way they memorize things. Like humans, dogs do not possess long-term episodic memories. So, even if they have chewed your shoe, they move on after completing the action. If you scold them later for their deeds, they tend to become confused as:
- They can never connect the scolding or your harsh behavior with the event that happened earlier.
- They tend to think they are in trouble for something they are doing right now.
- They try to read the emotions of their human parents.
For this reason, expert dog trainers suggest not to punish a dog, as they will never realize why you are doing so.
So do dogs feel ashamed?
Precisely speaking, shame is even more complicated than guilt. Shame is associated with various things that include understanding social expectations, judging one’s own behavior, and feeling embarrassed for one’s actions. Understandably, dogs do not have the power to think in these ways. So, you cannot expect your dog to sit in the corner and think about what it shouldn’t have done, and feel disappointed with itself. Dogs, however, do feel discomfort, fear of conflict, and stress from the reactions of their owners.
Thus, when we spot that stressful look in their eyes, to us it appears as shame, but it is actually not so. It is just their way of making the situation calm.
But why do some dogs appear guilty with selective people?
This is indeed true, and the reason is simple: dogs tend to learn from patterns. So, for instance, someone at home reacts strongly to them (loud voice, stern looks), the dog quickly learns that the person is angry and tense, and something is not right. At the same event, if someone reacts gently, the dog will never show the “shameful” eyes, and it will behave normally. So, as you can understand, it comes from their ability to read human emotions.
That “guilty look” suggests the dog wants to avoid trouble
If we go back and trace the origins of the dogs, we will notice, in the wild, their predecessors used to show signs of certain behaviors to keep the pack in peace. Dogs of modern times have inherited this instinct. Thus, they are never thinking of the past when they have messed up things; they are actually reacting to your current state of mind, which, in all probability, is disappointment. That look in their eyes suggests that their owners should not be furious with them, and they want peace.
Surprisingly, dogs do realize when they have broken a rule
Now, this is interesting, as sometimes dogs do realize they have done something wrong. As mentioned before, they aren’t guilty about their actions, but due to the patterns that they follow. Like when it chews on shoes or clothes, humans get upset, when it pees inside the house, humans make a fuss about it, and so on.
Ways to prevent these guilty behavior moments
Of course, you can play a significant role in strategizing the prevention of such behaviors. The best thing to do would be to make the training positive, and avoid the common dog training mistakes. Instead of scolding them for their misdeeds, redirect them. So, when you find them chewing something, you shouldn’t punish them and offer a toy instead. The best method would be to keep away items like shoes, food leftovers, and trash cans from their sight, as these can tempt them. Ensure you try to build trust and not fear. A dog that trusts you will never have to worry about how you will react to its actions.
Wrapping it up
So, as you know now, dogs never feel guilt or shame the way humans do. However, they are not emotionless. They do feel for their owners, but their way of expressing is different. They try their best to care about their human owners and want to make them happy at any cost.