New Study Reveals Dogs Can tell What their Owners think of Strangers..












Dogs can tell what their owners think of strangers from their reactions, new research, courtesy of dailymail has revealed.
Man's best friend engage in what is called social referencing - where they base their response to strangers on how their owners act - and use that information to decide whether to be friendly or hostile.
In the study, led by Charlotte Duranton of Marseille University and published in the journal Animal Behaviour, the attitude of dogs varied depending on if their master approached, remained still or moved away from strangers.
'The dogs performed referential looks and gaze alternations between the experimenter and their owner,' the report said to find out how they should react to the strangers. 
When owners retreated from strangers the dogs looked at the stranger significantly sooner and took significantly more time before their first contact with the stranger compared to when the owners approached the stranger. 
The canines also interacted more with their owners when they retreated, compared to when they approached or remained stationary.
The phenomenon of social referencing is also exhibited by young children who look to their parents reaction to unknown people before formulating a response.
Researchers said their work suggested a new way to manage dogs' reactions to people in public places.
The sex of the dogs studied also had an effect on their behaviours - males were found to look towards their owner for information less than females.

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