Are you struggling to get your dog to pay attention to you? Excellent training can go a long way in helping you find ways to snap your dog out of its distractions and encourage them to put all eyes on you. However, even solid training tactics aren't perfect.
Some breeds are notoriously independent, requiring a few repeated commands and the promise of a treat to devote their attention your way. But what if we told you that researchers recently discovered the best way to grab your dog's attention?
Believe it or not, researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna recently uncovered some interesting findings that may shed more light on how dogs think and how deeply they understand humans.
A Simple Experiment with Surprisingly Results
A team of Austrian researchers recently conducted a unique experiment involving 20 dogs. The experiment aimed to understand where canines looked when presented with commands in various scenarios. For this experiment, researchers used mutts, Staffordshire Terriers, Australian Shepherds, and Poodles.
Researchers strapped eye-tracking headgear to their heads to better understand the direction of each dog's gaze. Then, they put the dog through five different scenarios.
The dogs sat in front of a scientist who placed one bowl on either side of their body. Under one of these bowls was a treat.
The test involved showing the dog several ways of communication. The scientist tried several methods of telling the dog which bowl hid the treat, testing to see which one was most effective at capturing the pup's attention while delivering information.
The five techniques used included:
• Point at the bowl while staring at the dog
• Point at the bowl while gazing at the bowl
• Look at the bowl without pointing
• Pretend to throw a ball at the bowl
• Staring at the dog and pointing at no bowl (Control)
The researchers used these techniques six times each, tracking the dog's gaze.
What Did Researchers Find?
The experiment unveiled some interesting facts about what dogs focus on.
Every time the scientist used their hand to gesture at the treat, the dog would gaze upon their hand. The human movements did a surprisingly good job of pulling focus. However, things get even more compelling.
When the scientist pointed and gazed at the bowl hiding the treat, the dog would shift their gaze toward the bowl. The scientists found that the most effective way to get a dog's attention was to point and stare at the object of focus.
The researchers are hesitant to draw concrete conclusions, but the findings pointed towards the hypothesis that dogs follow human referential communication cues.
Referential communication is the ability to provide specific information about objects or actions. Dogs responded more to referential communication cues (pointing and gazing) than pure directional cues (pointing).
Why is this so groundbreaking?
It could mean that dogs have a deeper understanding of the information given than we previously knew.
The equipment showed that the dogs potentially understood what pointing and gazing meant, "Here is where the treat is," rather than simply blinding going in the direction of where they're directed.
For perspective, referential communication plays a big part in early human childhood development. Experts believe youngsters learn about the world around them by pointing and looking at objects. It may even play a part in helping children learn how to speak.
The Ongoing Quest to Understand Dogs
Of course, this study is just the start of a deeper dive into understanding how dogs communicate and understand commands. The findings are fascinating and help support long-held theories, but there's a lot of research left to do.
For now, you can use this information to your advantage. Next time you want your dog to pick something up or focus on a mess it made, try pointing and gazing. Doing so could help you grab your dog's focus and help it realize the errors of its ways.
Try recreating the test yourself and see how your pup responds. While research is ongoing, having this technique in your back pocket could be helpful the next time your dog gets into trouble!
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