Dogs showing guilt/shame for "bad" behavior

So there is a good chance some of you have already seen this video, its a few years old and I came across it through social media.

Dog lovers such as myself often treat dogs as though they were a hairy little deformed human. I have owned dogs my entire life, and I have seen a wide variety of clear emotions being expressed. Some find it hard to fathom that a 100lb "man eating beast" can process things like joy, sadness, and in this video shame/guilt.

If you've had multiple dogs at one time and came home to chewed furniture or similar desctruction, you'll see lots of familiar behavior in the clip.
The video:

I can't say definitively, but I think it's safe to say that none of those dogs were in an abusive household. All of the owners are using a normal volume in their voice, and the dogs are clearly displaying guilt. The video has dogs of all sizes, there are a few pitbulls, a mastiff, tiny chihuahuas, a few mutts thrown in...every make and model is pretty much represented here.

I guess the point I would like to raise is these animals are more than a lot of people give them credit for.

There's also a few good laughs to be had watching those priceless reactions!!

Any sane person who lives with a dog will tell you they have all the emotions of a human. Sometimes they can be down right spitefull too!
Example.
My old mate used to travel with me in my lorry, he went everywhere with me. One day I was in a hurry and though he'd usualy be allowed out at this particular drop, on this day he had to stay in the cab, and he was NOT happy about this!
When I returned to the cab he was as far over to the other side as he could get, and he refused to look at me.
As I drove off I became aware of the smell of Orange juice.
I looked into the tray that had all the paperwork for the day, and also my digital camera and my phone.
The tray was half full of Orange juice!!!
He'd taken the top of a bottle of orange juice and emptied it into the tray!
Both my phone and camera were dead.

I was SO ANGRY, but just couldn't help laughing at what he'd done.
I wish he was still here

shame is a display of abstract thought.

which is interesting.

my dogs show shame, too. Whichever one did it...vanishes to hide somewhere out of my view.

Dogs are pack animals, you see this better when you have more than one.

I have several, Disharmony in the pack (you upset with one) will cause the whole pack to try and appease the alpha (you)

I noticed this more once I had 3+ dogs, when one would do something, and be put outside, all the other dogs would be on "best" behavior.

Almost appearing to be having a guilty conscious.

I know the "rapid tail thump with the averted eyes" look all too well. The last time it occurred was when I forgot something and unexpectedly returned after five minutes to find Joe curled up in my work chair on my laptop. (I left it in the chair to keep him from jumping up there. Yeah, that worked.) Another time was when he was caught trying to eat the coffee table.

He has a similar stance when you say the word, "bath." 'Thinks if you can't see his face then he must be invisible. LOL! Wouldn't trade him for anything.

graceunderpressure
I know the "rapid tail thump with the averted eyes" look all too well.

My pits seem to favor the Slow Motion Walk, coupled with averted eyes on the rare occasion that they misbehave.

My male is just over a year old, still a puppy in most all respects except for size. A week or so ago I caught him sticking his head in/around the trash (very unlike him). He wasn't taking anything out, so I let him continue and I just waited near the entrance of the kitchen. As he came around the corner I jumped out and said (sort of loud, I intended to scare the snip out of him) "What are you doing in there?". He peeled out on the smooth kitchen floor so bad that he fell over, then he ran for his life while I stood there laughing like an ass. I felt so bad that I scared him half to death, but it was hilarious and he got the hint that he's not as slick as he thinks he is.

SnF

Thanks for posting!

Here's a good one to add.

Thanks for sharing the video. I laughed, a lot. Especially the one showing his teeth, err smiling, when asked what he had done!

My little dog shows shame, though only when she "dirty poops" in the front living room. She's almost 6, but every now and then she'll take a dump in there. When we find it and call for her to come, she does the slow walk of shame, won't look at you, and will sometimes roll onto her back.

Dogs are awesome. Cats are as well, but they don't usually give a sh!t if they do something to upset you. Mine doesn't, anyway!

reply to post by ChaosComplex


Good video, I'd never seen that one before. The behavior I have seen out of the two furry beasts playing grab tail in my living room right now.

I came home one day to find one dog waiting by the door and heard the other barking from the back of the house. I walked down the hall and found my bedroom door closed with the sound of dog claws trying to furiously dig through it. Opened the door to find a third of the carpet torn to complete shreds, the door chewed and clawed along with half of the base trim. I said "expletive expletive, Charlie what did you do?" He bolted past me and I found him hiding in the shower with his nose buried in the corner.

I can say with confidence I've seen them display emotions like joy and sadness, guilt and pride, along with a host of others.

reply to post by ChaosComplex


I remember with my old dog. All it took was for me to say "did you do that?". Down and to the side would go his head, a total body language of shame, that said *oh no, busted* to me....

Des

Dogs definitely show guilt. Why it would have to be a scientific experiment is beyond me. Just ask any person with a Dog. Question answered.

It would sure be a great thread in a ANIMALS/PET Forum...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Peace

I'd say about 2-3 days out of the week, I get home from work to find my golden retriever has chewed/torn something up. Thankfully it's usually paper or one of the stuffed animals my daughter has long forgotten.

It's so funny when you pick it up and show him. Just the most guilty look ever. I picture him saying, "I blacked out and when I came to the stuffed bunny was everywhere!...I have a problem man, I know!"

Being an owner of 3 fine canines myself Im of the persuasion the say that dogs absolutely feel guilt/shame. Ive read a lot of articles and heard programs where scientists say that the dogs dont actually feel it and they are just fearfully reacting to their owners body language/tone of voice, but I know from personal anecdotal experience at least that when 3 dogs are sitting there, I can always tell which one is the culprit because he's acting guilty as hell. Scientists rightly suffer from an abundance of caution so maybe they are just reticent to admit this without hard data.

Someone had to post one...



Des

A few years ago, me and my family were down at the park when a couple came in walking their bloodhound. My kids love dogs and asked if it was OK to pet their dog and the owners said it was OK. He was still just a puppy but he was already pretty big, about as tall as my kids and was very friendly and enjoyed all the attention he was getting.

After a few minutes, the slobber was building up on his muzzle and you can guess what happened next. I saw it coming and took a step back but my youngest daughter was right up in his face, at ground zero. The bloodhound shook his face to get rid of the excess drool and it got all over my daughter's jacket. She freaked out and started screaming and crying. I'm sorry to say that me and the wife found the situation hilarious and were laughing too hard to console her. The owners apologized profusely but, we assured them it was OK and no harm was done.

What I'll never forget is the reaction of the dog. Without any scolding or prompting from the owners, the bloodhound put both its paws together at my daughter's feet and lowered its heat on top of its paws in an attitude of supplication. You could tell the dog felt sorry for making the little girl cry.

I had to point out to my daughter several times that the dog was apologizing to her before she would calm down and forgive it. She still pissed and moaned about the dog drool all over her the whole way home and jumped in the bathtub the second we walked in the door.

Its one of my family's fondest memories and proof that dogs are more complicated and intelligent than most people think.

Wouldn't be a proper guilty dog thread without denver.

DeadSeraph
Wouldn't be a proper guilty dog thread without denver.

Absolutely right! Denver is the Rock Star of shamed dogs! LOL!!!!!

I can't disagree strongly enough with the reactions to these videos...all i see are some poor confused dogs learning to be fearful..none of this is funny and a lot of it is downright disturbing..dogs chew stuff when they are bored or confused...also dogs aren't little hairy humans ..guess what? they're DOGS and they don't understand long sentences..they don't know what countertop means...they don't understand "did you do this..i think you diiid"...good god give me a break..i'm a long time dog owner as well and my dog means everything to me ..what i don't do is mess with his head and his confidence by puting him through STUPID (not funny at all) agonising BS such as this stuff...also what messes with a dog is holding a little box in front of his face the whole time..guess what else ? the dog doesn't know what what a smart phone is..he's just confused why you are following him around with it...stop messing with your dogs confidence for your own lame amusement..here's a hint..if he chews something then show it to him straight away..maybe a little tap on the nose and a firm NO then leave him be...end of p-----d off rant.

I don't have any dogs, but I have seen dogs be well aware of things that their human companions don't like them doing.

I have two cats, and sometimes when me or a family member gets angry and makes a whole bunch of noise, one of my cats will run downstairs into our bathroom, or outside my basement and start crying/whining real loud. So I can easily tell that our emotional stresses start rubbing off on her quite easily. This same cat will do the same thing if she knows she did something wrong. She will usually perch on top of the sink in the downstairs bathroom and try to hide. If I go down there right away to see her, she'll look at me real wide-eyed and start whining and crying. One time she got so spooked that she hid inside of the little cabinet inside the bottom of my sink in the bathroom for a long time. I'd say something like 5 days, maybe a little longer. She'd come upstairs here and there to get water and food, but if we got close, she would run right back to where she was.

I hate seeing her like that. Because shes a really sweet cat. And shes always would be the perfect definition of a "scaredy cat." She seems to get her feelings hurt kind of easy. Not sure why. She's always been like that for some reason. So I usually try not to get mad at her. Heck, she's well behaved anyway so I can't really complain much.

reply to post by arbie


You must also have a hard time sensing emotions of humans. Lack of empathy. That is a type of personality disorder.

Dogs are very smart, and fully capable of emotions. Raise a dog from birth, and talk to it normally, and they will certainly understand words. However, some dogs are clearly smarter than others, specifically different breeds. If you have only had experience with the not-so-smart breeds in your life, it may affect your outlook on all dogs.

Neil Degrasse Tyson's words on a dog's intellect.