Dogs manipulate people for profit, scientists have found
MOSCOW, March 12 — RIA Novosti. Dog deliberately deceive the owners to obtain their desired, writes The Telegraph, citing a study published by researchers at the University of Zurich in the journal Animal Cognition.
The experts examined 27 different dogs, each of which was assigned two people: one allowed the dog to eat the treat, the other, on the contrary, did not allow him to do so.
In the course of research the dog first figured out what kind of person he got — which shares the meal or leaves it at home.
Then the pet was supposed to lead to one of three boxes: the first was my favorite dog food — juicy sausage, secondly — the food he does not like dog biscuits, in the third there was nothing.
Dogs very quickly learned the following manipulation: if they got the person who does not eat a treat, they brought him to the empty box. And when they were assigned a man, ready to share food they have brought him a box of sausage, because he knew that he would receive it anyway.
After two days of tests it turned out that the one who allows you to eat the food, the dogs were led to a box with sausage more often than expected overall and more often than one who is not allowed to eat it
“They demonstrated a remarkable flexibility in behavior — says, who led the study, Marianne Heberlein. — They do not adhere to strict rules, they think about what choices they have.”