They are waiting for a signal. Scientists explained why dogs look at people so closely

American scientists have studied in detail why dogs often look at people very closely. It turns out that pets are waiting for a signal from us to take certain actions.

Most animals use their eyes to demonstrate a threat. However, this is not the case with dogs, ScienceFocus writes.

If you have a dog, you're familiar with the situation when you're minding your own business and suddenly notice your pet's attentive gaze on you. A lot of questions immediately arise: "What's going on? Why is he looking at me like that? Does he want to eat or go for a walk? Is he angry with me?"

Researchers at Barnard College of Columbia University in New York decided to delve into canine psychology.

"One of the first discoveries in canine cognition research that led to a lot of future research is that dogs look into our eyes and at our faces in a very unusual way for animals. This is not to say that other animals don't do this, but most animals use gaze to demonstrate threat, such as wolves," said Alexandra Horowitz, a professor of canine cognition at Barnard College.

Scientists emphasize that the simplest explanation for why a pet looks at you is that it expects you, as the owner, to give it cues on how to behave and what to do. "You control their world. Dogs, and I don't want to exaggerate, are mostly in our captivity. We determine when they eat, when they can go outside, socialize, and sniff the world, where they can urinate and defecate. We control all the things that they want to do, and they want to understand when it's going to happen," Horowitz explained.

However, there is one more feature of the dog's gaze. Studies have shown that dogs' ability to interpret our feelings and desires is so finely tuned that they can distinguish between emotional and neutral facial expressions and between happy and angry faces, even when shown only photos of faces.

Scientists suggest that this amazing ability of barkers is due to a special bond that humans and dogs have developed over thousands of years of living together. "People use looking at each other as an intimate gesture. It's something you do with people you're friends with. Gaze is also used to communicate – you get a person's attention by looking at them and hold their gaze when you talk to them," Horowitz says.

The professor of canine cognition emphasizes that the attentive gaze of our dogs shows that they are interested in us and that they understand us. "And, at the very least, they are looking for information from us and know that it can be read on our faces," summarizes Oleksandra Horowitz.

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