As you can tell from these pictures, it's hard to resist a dog. So we asked PAWS, or the Progressive Animal Welfare Society, how we ought to approach one we're meeting for the first time.
They're a non-profit organization based in Lynnwood, Washington, dedicated to promoting animal welfare through various rescue, rehabilitation, and advocacy programs. Established in 1967, the teams at PAWS focus on helping not only domestic animals but also injured, orphaned, and sick wildlife.
"You should avoid direct eye contact and abstain from immediately touching the dog," their spokesperson told Bored Panda. "Stand a bit sideways, talk softly, and see if the dog chooses to come over and investigate you. Always let the dog set the pace for the interaction. If they come up and nudge you, they are asking for some attention!"
Reading dogs' emotions is an incredibly important part of our relationships. But we often get them wrong because we tend to anthropomorphise and attribute human feelings to our pets.
A good example of this is the so-called guilty look. You probably saw one of those videos on social media where a dog avoids eye contact with humans and turns their head slightly to the side.
If this happens after the pup has done something they shouldn't have, we often classify this as an indicator of shame or guilt. But in reality, dogs avoid eye contact as a kind of de-escalation behavior. (Which is why we were advised by PAWS not to do it when introducing ourselves to a good boy or girl.)
Perhaps the dog has learned to expect a reaction from the owner in certain situations and looks away because they feel threatened or intimidated, even when there's absolutely no shame involved.
Another example comes from 2013, when researchers from the University of Portsmouth went to shelters across the UK and filmed dogs for two minutes each.
The animal shelter then told the researchers how long it took for the filmed dogs to be adopted by new owners, and it turns out, neither barking nor wagging tails influenced the adoption rate—only a specific eyebrow movement: the so-called puppy dog eyes.
The more often the dogs raised their eyebrows and produced puppy dog eyes, the quicker they were re-homed. Nothing else had an effect. This could be because the puppy dog eyes resemble a facial expression that we produce when we are sad, and it makes us empathize with the dog on a deeper level.
A 2019 study suggests that dogs may have even evolved their facial muscle anatomy to better communicate with humans.
Scientists compared the facial muscle anatomy of dogs and wolves and demonstrated that the facial muscles of dogs and wolves were identical except for one muscle, the levator anguli oculi medialis, which, coincidentally, is responsible for the lifting of the inner eyebrow in dogs!
But remember, it's not just us reading dogs—they analyze us too.
Therefore, the spokesperson of PAWS explained to us that "a good dog owner is calm, patient, and dedicated to working through challenges that may arise."
"Dogs, especially younger ones, have a lot to learn before they are well-trained companions, and they need someone who will work with them to help them become their best selves."
