Dogs seem to like some people better than others. Have you ever experienced that your dog happily runs up to some of your acquaintances but gives others the cold shoulder? Here you can find out what could be causing this.
It is a bitter experience for many dog lovers. They want to pet the cuddly four-legged friend, but he hardly looks at them. Instead, he demonstrates tail-wagging enthusiasm for the person next to him. Do dogs like some people better than others? Recent research has found that this may be due to how you relate to other people as a dog owner.
Dogs reflect the behavior of their owners.
In Japan, a study by Kyoto University found that dogs tend to mirror their owners’ behavior. The four-legged friends observe the social interactions of their human “pack members” and act accordingly. If your dog shows little affection for an acquaintance, it may be because that person may not have been particularly friendly to you either, or you may have had some conflict with one another. A study by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology had previously shown that three-year-old human children behave similarly.
How the dog decides who he likes better
Researchers refer to this behavior of dogs and small children as “social eavesdropping,” roughly translated as “social eavesdropping.” The dog observes the social interaction in a group and concludes it. If the people in the interaction with the dog owner are friendly and helpful, the dog concludes that he can also expect friendly treatment from these people. In the hope that this will result in a pet or a treat for him, he shows himself to be particularly friendly towards these people.
