Debunking The Myth: Dogs Feel Guilt
“He knows what he did! I can tell by the guilty look on his face!”
I have heard this phrase come out of many an exasperated owners mouth as we sat and discussed the behavioral issues their dog had been experiencing. While a dog who pooped on the rug and is now greeting you at the door may display body language (crouched close to the floor, tail tucked between the legs, slinking posture, lip licking) that indicates guilt, dogs are not humans and have an entirely different way of thinking.
Photo by Brian Sayler
When you walk in that door and smell that lovely mess, what do you do? Do you yell? Do you rush around in a frantic frenzy searching for paper towels and stain remover? Do you banish the dog to his crate? Do you institute some form of punishment? The answer is most likely, “yes”. Your dog’s “guilty” appearance when you walk in the front door is due to his conditioned anticipation of your negative reaction.
Unless a dog is caught in the act of having an accident (or making a mess of any sort), their minds do not connect the act to the scolding you are doling out. The looks of “guilt” they are giving you are only in response to your emotions. They may be reacting submissively or even fearfully.
Photo by pfeyh
I once did an experiment with my own dog, Reef, when she was younger and would raid the trash can. When I would find her in the kitchen my tone and demeanor would change to one of frustration and she would immediately the “guilty” look. However, I knew dogs really didn’t feel guilt so I decided to do an experiment. One day I scattered trash on the kitchen floor myself. I called Reef into the kitchen and she immediately put on the same “I’m sorry I did this” look, even though she didn’t make the mess. My dog was conditioned to be prepared for my response to her behavior. She got an extra cookie that day!
June 24th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
I do agree that the dog reacts with “guilt” even when he hasn’t done the forbidden act, just in anticipation of punishment, as your experiment showed. Our dog will occasionally act “guilty” of getting on the sofa when we’ve been away and we come back home even when he hasn’t been on the sofa! Then I have to figure out whether he was on the sofa or not, just because he’s acting so “guilty” and how to act appropriately.
At the same time, we know he does connect forbidden acts with punishment and thus “guilt”, because he will go into another room to do that which he is not “allowed” to do in order to do it out of sight and thus hope to avoid the punishment.
For example, our dog recently was hit by a car and had surgery and has a splint and bandages on one leg. Last month he spent the whole morning by my side and never licked the bandage even once. For 10 minutes I went outside and when I came in he had about 4 feet of bandages unrolled and the edges of the splint chewed off. (Our His doctor had cautioned us against his getting the bandages wet. Obviously at this time he was indicating that something was irritating him and that we had to get him to the hospital.) But my point is that even though dogs do not understand causality, there is the experience that certain acts will not make mom and pop happy and thus puppy’s look of “guilt” - which at times is due to their having been the source of the (bad) behavior. See my dog’s face when we found his splint chewed at http://www.dogsdontlookbothways.com/joeys_blog/2009/06/guilty-as-charged/