(STUDY FINDS) – A dog’s head tilt is often an adorable little act that their owners can’t get enough of. Now, a new study finds there may be an important reason behind this cute motion. Researchers from Eötvös Loránd University say the classic head tilt appears to be a sign that your dog is both smart and understands what you’re saying.
Using data from the Genius Dog Challenge, the team examined how intelligent some dogs are through their ability to learn the names of various toys. During this study, they found that dogs “present an asymmetry” when they hear a name they understand — such as tailing wagging, sniffing with their nostrils, or motioning with one particular paw. This motioning with just one side of the body is a sign a brain functioning.
“Tilting the head is yet another asymmetrical movement in dogs, but it had never been studied. We investigated the frequency and direction of this behavior in response to a specific human verbal vocalization: when the owner asks the dog to bring a toy by saying its name. We did so after realizing that it often happened when the dogs were listening to their owners,” explains lead researcher Dr. Andrea Sommese from the Family Dog Project at Eötvös Loránd in a university release.
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