Findings: Dogs take an owner's point of view into consideration when carrying out tasks

THEY swear their pooch understands them and now devoted owners appear to be right, with research saying dogs factor in human views.

Mali Rolph

THEY swear their pooch understands them and now devoted owners appear to be right, with research saying dogs factor in human views.

Research found dogs forbidden from stealing a snack will take food when they think you can't see them. It proves, the scientists say, that the dog first considered what a human could see before breaking the rules.

The UK research involved putting dogs in rooms which were dark and rooms which were lit. They discovered the dogs were four times more likely to disobey a command not to steal food left in the room when the room was dark. They acted the same, regardless of whether someone was in the room.

"That's incredible because it implies dogs understand the human can't see them, meaning they might understand the human perspective," Dr Juliane Kaminski, from the University of Portsmouth's psychology department said.

"Clearly the dogs take the social situation into account before they take any action. It suggests the dogs are looking at the food from the human perspective, as well as their own, before acting."

Sydney animal behaviourist Mali Rolph said it mirrored her experience with "counter surfing", where dogs would steal food from kitchen counters, often when the owner's back was turned.

"Labradors are notorious for it - we had one Lab that was clever enough to steal two pieces of pizza from a closed pizza box. He did it so secretively, the box re-closed on itself when he was done," Ms Rolph said.

"We've also seen lots of evidence which this research supports in our work with service or assistance dogs. They've shown us countless times they are capable of navigating a human who is sight impaired under or around obstacles that would be no challenge from the dogs perspective.

"For example, the dog will see a low beam that it could easily walk under, but recognises that it's human handler will be caused an injury if they continue to walk forward. The dog will then navigate the human safely around the beam."