Who's better at sneaking around? Dogs or teenagers?

Growing up, when I wasn’t at school, I could often be found playing Super Mario Brothers on Game Boy or reading Archie comics. My parents quickly deemed both a huge waste of time and transported both to an out-of-reach location -- the attic -- only to be brought out on special occasions.

Whenever my parents left the house for an extended period of time, that time became an unofficial “special occasion.” The attic ladder was pulled down, and I ventured upstairs to read comics, play Game Boy and scamper down only when hearing the garage door rumble. 

Such stories are common among Homo sapiens of all ages. Our ability to take the perspective of others helps us engage in sneaky and deceptive acts to achieve our desires. These behaviors are certainly not unique to humans. We find similar behavior in my favorite species of discussion, Canis familiaris.

 

Take the following experimental research paper from 2010: Domesticated dogs (Canis familiaris) react to what others can and cannot hear. 

In the experiment, an experimenter inserted treats into two containers. The “Bell Container” had a bell that would ring whenever treats were put in or taken out. The “Silent Container” lacked a bell, and treats could be inserted or removed silently. 

The experimenter put a treat in both the Bell Container and the Silent Container and told the dog not to eat. After disallowing the dog, the experimenter sat between the two containers, and dogs were exposed to one of the following conditions. In the Looking Condition, the experimenter sat looking straight ahead at the dog. In the Not-Looking Condition, the experimenter sat not looking at the dog (specifically, the experimenter pulled their knees into their chest, and placed their head between their knees looking at the ground). In both the Looking Condition and Not-Looking Condition, the dogs had 30 seconds to approach one container and get the treat. 

Before we get to what the dogs did, what would you do in this situation? Let’s say I tell you not to eat one of my boyfriend’s famous oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with lots of butter and then assume the Not-looking position, head between my knees and looking at the ground. If you don’t want me to know that you are eating the cookie, you should remove the cookie from the Silent Cookie Jar, not the Bell Cookie Jar. If you take from the Silent Cookie Jar, maybe I won’t notice! The Bell Cookie Jar would be a bad choice because the bell would alert me and my ears that you are eating my cookies, you sneaky dingbat! On the other hand, if I tell you not to eat the cookie and then look at you with my eyes open, I will know what you do no matter which Cookie Jar you approach. Approach the Silent Cookie Jar and I can see you, approach the Bell Cookie Jar and I can see and hear you. If you want the cookie (you really should just ask nicely), you will be caught either way so it doesn’t matter which Cookie Jar you attack. 

The study found that the behavior of Canis familiaris mimics what you would probably do! Interestingly, the dogs preferred to take food from the silent container only when the experimenter was not looking at them. This means the dogs showed this preference only when relevant to them taking the treat undetected. When the experimenter was looking, they approached the Bell Container and the Silent Container relatively equally. The researchers conclude, “Overall, the results suggest dogs consider how auditory information can change what a human knows.” 

Owners see this phenomenon in everyday settings. Dogs modify their behavior in the presence of people and other non-human animals. In the sociological research paper Understanding Dogs - Caretakers' attributions of mindedness in canine-human relationships, a dog owner describes an example of this propensity between his two dogs:

“My dogs play a game called ‘bone.’ One of them will get the rawhide bone and take it over to the other one and try to get him to try and get it. Or one will try to get the bone if the other one has it. One day I was watching and the youngest one was trying to get the bone without much luck. So he goes over to the window and begins to bark like someone is coming up the driveway. The other dog drops the bone and runs over to the window and the puppy goes and gets the bone. There wasn’t anyone in the driveway - it was just a trick. Maybe it was just coincidence but...” 

This experiment is pure Dog Spies: dogs are constantly watching what humans do and humans extend that same unbridled courtesy to dogs. 

Wouldn’t James Bond wait until Goldfinger left his underground lair before sneaking in and defusing the detonators? Of course he would! And so would Fido! 

Reference
Domesticated dogs (Canis familiaris) react to what others can and cannot hear