GabyIf you’ve ever owned a dog, you know this: you’re cooking, reading, or otherwise occupied, and suddenly your pup is staring at you from across the room. That stare has puzzled people and researchers for years, and they’ve offered several explanations. Researchers began studying the reasons behind the behavior several decades ago. “One of the first discoveries in the study of dogs’ cognitive abilities was that they look us in the eye and at our faces in a way that is quite unusual for animals,” said Alexandra Horowitz, a professor of canine cognition at Columbia University in New York.
Horowitz says it’s not that no other animals stare, but most use intense gazing mainly as a threat signal. For example, a wolf will closely observe an unfamiliar wolf to avoid conflict. So why does your dog look at you? The simplest explanation is that they’re waiting for you, their owner, to provide guidance on how they should behave and what they should do. “You control their world,” Horowitz said. “Dogs are mostly in our captivity.”
We decide when they eat, go for walks, meet other dogs, sniff around, and even relieve themselves, Horowitz said. In short, people control many parts of dogs’ lives. But recent research points to a different, deeper explanation. Scientists now think the gaze is linked to dogs’ ability to read our emotions and desires — they can tell emotional from neutral facial expressions, and even distinguish happy faces from angry ones, sometimes from photographs.
This skill likely grew out of the close bond humans and dogs formed over thousands of years together. “Humans use intense gazing as an intimate gesture, as well as when they want to attract someone’s attention,” the professor said. For dogs it’s different: their long looks show they find us interesting and understand us. In that way they read our emotions and wait for cues from us. So the next time your pup stares into your eyes, don’t worry — they just want to know what you’re doing so they can be part of it, according to Science Focus.
