Haylo Hooman’s,
As I sit here drafting this week’s article, my boys are pushing the beans in their bean bag around to get the best sleeping position whilst simultaneously achieving the best vantage point to see what I am doing to be ready at a moment’s notice to follow me out of the office and into (hopefully) the kitchen or lounge.
I have had one of those weeks where I feel exhausted from too much ‘thinking’ work and not a lot of ‘physical’ work which sometimes happens and the boys know that after the initial snuffles and kisses on seeing me, that it’s time to jump on their bed and let Mum get on with it.
So, is it any surprise that an article that I stumbled across a few weeks ago, popped into my mind as I was considering which topic to share this week?
Picture 1: Oscar the Pug Super-model executing a perfect Puggie-dog eye look
As the article mentions, intuitively we fur-parents know that our fur-children (not just Puggies) seem to have this innate ability to know what’s going on with us Hooman’s, sometimes long before we know what’s going on. For me it has always been my Puggies “Super-power”, and if someone had told me as a child that my future Puggies were super-natural, not only would have I believed them, but they would have been at the top of my “Who to call when the world is about the end” list!
The study was undertaken to determine if dogs could differentiate between a ‘happy and an angry human face,’ and is the first time this type of research has been conducted to provide evidence of what us Puggie-Parents always knew. 20 dogs of different breeds where used in this experiment and there is a link to a video below showing part of the experiment, which was fascinating to watch since the dog did not see a whole face in any of the activities, but still able to determine the difference.
Picture 2: Winston looking imploringly at Andrew for another head massage
Now, I am positive that there are Puggie-parents out there like me who have at least one Puggie who is naughtier than the other, and who does something that they know will get them in trouble but will still do it anyway ….. And, when they are caught, they know how much trouble they’re in before you’ve walked in the door properly having already scarpered out the Puggie-door to display their contrition from the safety of the backdoor/window.
In my Puggie-dom (the Puggie Kingdom that I am a servant too), that Puggie is Winston and his target object is the wastepaper bin in my office. It’s never held anything other than paper, but Winston has a personal vendetta for this bin, and I come home regularly to find it turned over, contents spread far and wide as well as partially chewed to then be spat out as Puggie-machete on the carpet for me (said servant) to clean-up. Are you surprised to learn that his Mum-radar is more accurate/sensitive than any defence system available to the world’s militaries?
Picture 3: One of many "Winston-nado" moments
Apparently from the research conducted, this is no new phenomenon and it has shown that “dogs are experts at reading body language”, and “it’s almost impossible to hide your feelings from a dog.”
So my fellow Hooman’s I pose this question, do you think that our Puggies are more cunning than we give them credit for? Are we really being ‘played the fool’ by their Puggie-eyes and snuffly faces when they have already sussed out that we’re ripe for the taking when it comes to maximum treat allocation?
I’d like to think not but I’d love to hear your thoughts and stories where your Puggie has read the signs and escaped before you could reprimand them for their naughty behaviour. Please share with us in the comments below, we’d love to hear all about it …. And be reassured that we’re not the only ones!
From Donna
Proud Pug-mum to Winston and Charles
Founder of Pug Parties
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#blog #article #naughtypug #happyface #angryface #researchfindings
Reference:
Scents and sensitivity: Dogs know when we’re happy or angry by Linda Carroll (Course: Today) of 13 Feb 2015
Dog recognises human smiles video - https://www.today.com/video/today/56961860