Dog–Human Deception

Deception in dogs (Canis familiaris) is a relatively new topic in cognitive research, yet there has been considerable anecdotal evidence suggesting that dogs are capable of deception. Dogs were overlooked in early research, perhaps because of their domestication, and perhaps because early “dog artists” tricked ethologists into believing that their dogs were capable of extraordinary abilities, such as counting, by giving the dog minute cues. During the 20th century, however, dog ethology began to make a comeback and research to date has shown that dogs possess exceptional social cognitive abilities, particularly involving humans. Dogs make excellent candidates for deception research because of social cognitive skills gained through ancestral influence from wolves (Canis lupus subspp.), selection during their domestication, and their long history of living alongside humans. The research to date has focused on deception in play between dogs and humans and has provided evidence that dogs are deceptive. Little research, however, has looked at deception or its detection between dogs and humans in contexts other than play.

[Page 305]Wolves, the most likely ancestors of dogs, live in complex, dynamic social systems that greatly vary in size; packs of two to 42 individuals have been reported. A complex social system forces the evolution of skills that enable individual wolves to remember past interactions with others and to use this information to predict and possibly manipulate the behaviors of those around them. These adaptations for social living were likely passed on to dogs throughout their evolution.

Further pressure for social cognitive skills came from the domestication process, during which humans selected those dogs that had a better understanding of human communicative behavior, which was necessary for coexisting with, and especially working alongside, humans. Dogs typically outperform wolves in social cognitive tasks, supporting the notion that domestication has had a significant influence on dogs' understanding of human behavior.

Today, dogs are present in almost every human society worldwide and have the opportunity to learn from humans from a very young age. Even as puppies, they demonstrate a level of understanding of human gestures that is superior to wolves and most other animals. Dogs' exceptional capacity for utilizing human-given cues suggests that they have the skills necessary for exhibiting deception involving humans.