Skip to content
i Still Love Dogs
i Still Love Dogs

…Dog news, tips & fun stuff

  • News
  • Awww
  • Heroes
  • Grrr
  • Tips
  • Pittie Party
  • About
i Still Love Dogs

…Dog news, tips & fun stuff

dog understands human emotions in photos

New Study Finds Dogs Recognize Our Happy and Angry Facial Expressions

Laura Goldman, February 12, 2015August 19, 2019

dog understands human emotions in photos

Apparently we don’t have to be raising our voices for our dogs to understand that we’re angry, according to a new study by cognitive scientists at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna.

Just by looking at our faces, dogs can tell if we’re angry, or happy. It was previously believed that dogs could only figure this out by using other senses, like hearing and smell, and by observing how we were acting.

A 2013 study found that dogs can discriminate human faces in pictures. But could they also discriminate emotions?

The latest study, published today in the scientific journal Current Biology, was conducted at the Clever Dog Lab at the Vetmeduni Vienna by Corsin Müller, Ludwig Huber and colleagues from the Messerli Research Institute.

During a training phase, two groups of 10 dogs were shown side-by-side photos of women smiling and scowling. One group of dogs was rewarded when they nose-bonked the images of happy faces; the other group was rewarded when they touched angry faces.

To ensure the dogs weren’t making their decisions based on differences between the photos, such as teeth or frown lines, the photos were split in half so dogs only saw the eye or mouth area. Even then, most of the dogs could discriminate between happy and angry face halves. They were also able to determine the emotion in photos they had not seen before.

dog understands human emotions in photos

“We believe that dogs draw on their memory during this exercise. They recognize a facial expression which they have already stored,” Müller said in a press release. He noted that all the dogs in the study were pets. “We suspect that dogs that have no experience with people would perform worse or could not solve the task at all.”

Interestingly, the dogs were able to identify happy faces much more quickly than angry faces.

“It seems that dogs dislike approaching angry faces,” Huber said.

The study results are surprising, since the spatial resolution of dogs’ vision is about seven times lower than that of humans.

“It had been unknown that dogs could recognize human emotions in this way,” Huber said.

To better understand how these visual skills are developed, the team plans to conduct similar research using wolves.

Photos: Clever Dog Lab / Vetmeduni Vienna

Related

News

Post navigation

Previous post
Next post

Recent Posts

  • Dogs—Not Cats—May Prevent Babies from Developing Asthma
  • Rest in Paradise, Patrick the Miracle Dog
  • Guide Dog Terrified by Thunder Led Blind Owner to Safety on 9/11
  • Once Again, Adopted Dogs Featured in 2025 Rose Parade
  • 7 Examples That Prove Trump Is Clueless About Dogs

Most “Paw”pular Posts

  • Due to 'Pit Bulls and Parolees' Lawsuit, New Villalobos Sanctuary Planned
  • 5 Reasons Why Jon Stewart Is So Doggone Awesome
  • Frank Sinatra Loved the Ladies...and the Dogs
  • Rape Charges Dropped Against Toney Converse of 'Pit Bulls and Parolees'
  • Leonard Nimoy's L.A. Pet Store Did Not Live Long or Prosper

Like i Still Love Dogs on Facebook

Like i Still Love Dogs on Facebook

Follow @iStillLoveDogs on BlueSky

Follow @iStillLoveDogs on BlueSky

Subscribe to i Still Love Dogs

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts. I respect your privacy and will never sell your information.

Privacy Policy

about Laura Goldman
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
©2025 i Still Love Dogs | WordPress Theme by SuperbThemes
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. You can opt-out if you wish.Got it! Reject Privacy Policy
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT