A guilty looking dog slouching around the house is a common thing observed by dog owners. Owners are quick to jump to conclusions about the guiltiness of dogs. Latest research indicates that obviously there is more than what meets the eye in the behavior of dogs. What we read in the actions of dogs could be contrary to the truth.

Alexandra Horowitz, Assistant Professor from Barnard College in New York set up a very clever experiment to debunk some of the myths associated with dogs. In the experiment owners were asked to leave the room after ordering their dogs not to eat a delectable item of food. While the owners were away Horowitz gave some of the dogs this item of food before inviting the owners back into the room. In some trials the owners were told that the dog has eaten the food while others were told that their dogs had behaved as ordered. What was told to the owners was not exactly what had transpired. In some cases dogs that had behaved well were pointed out as guilty.

The experiment conclusively proved that the "guilty look" had little to do with whether the dogs had actually eaten the food or not. Dogs looked most “guilty” if they were chastised by their owners for eating the food. The dogs that had been obedient and had not eaten the food, but were reprimanded by their owners, looked more “guilty” than those that had, in fact, eaten the food. This proved that the dog’s guilty look is a response to the owner’s behavior, and not necessarily a response to its own misdeeds.

The tendency of human being to interpret animal behavior in human terms was highlighted in these experiments. Scientists term it as Anthropomorphism. These include the emotions such as guilt or remorse.

The full details of the research appears in the recently published "Canine Behaviour and Cognition" Special Issue of Elsevier's Behavioural Processes