In my purposeless clicking through Youtube videos yesterday I came across one of those guilty dog videos. That youtube recommends these to me isn’t that much of a surprise as every time my better half touches my computer Youtube’s recommending algorithm gets a fresh injection of the keywords: dogs, cats and bunnies. The dog’s reaction in this video, however, was just a bit over the top.
And while 50 million viewers, including me, think it is hilarious. It made me wonder if a dog feels that guilty over something that he did, why do the sneaky rebels keep doing it. A quick google search taught me surprisingly that dogs don’t feel guild at all.
Veterinary scientist Susan Hazel told Abc news that dogs don’t feel shame nor remorse, their brains are not programmed to do so. Their behavior is rather an evolutionary result where dogs learned over thousands of years how to react to the body language of their owners. Dogs are very keen at picking up how we feel, often even before we know it ourselves. And if they feel that we are angry or upset with them they will react in a submissive way resulting in what we interpret as shame or guild.
So next time you’re out of the house and you think your best friend has learned his lesson, think again. I, however, won’t mind seeing the result of the little rascal's adventure on Youtube while I’m sipping on my morning coffee.
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