Anybody who has a dog would surely know how loyal these animals can be.

They have proven time and time again that they can do the most unbelievable things out of love and loyalty to their owners. There are thousands of stories all around the globe that tells about how dogs can help people in more ways than one.

While we are all aware that dogs are sweet, playful, loyal, and friendly, these pups have more to them than we still are unaware of. They can do various things, but we cannot say for sure all the things that they can or cannot do.

As it turns out, dogs can also recognize bad persons and this is according to a study conducted in Japan.

Researchers at Kyoto University in Japan, under the direction of Akiko Takaoka, found that dogs are able to judge whether a person is deserving of their trust. The experimental investigation consisted of three rounds and involved 34 dogs.

In the initial round, the experimenters would indicate a container that contained secret food. The pups would rush to the designated container and gorge themselves on the rewards since they were trained to read body signs.

The same experimenters would point to a container in the second round, but this time there was no food hidden inside. The dogs would all rush to the empty container, only to be disappointed when they realized there was no treat hidden inside.

The same experimenters would point to a container containing hidden food during the third and final round of the experimental investigation. The dogs didn’t run for the container this time, though.

The study showed that dogs are capable of telling when people are lying to them or are untrustworthy.

The experiment proved that the dogs being studied tended to figure out whether or not the person guiding them was a trustworthy guide. This was after they remembered the last time they had been misled.

Akiko Takaoka, the lead researcher, finds it shocking as to how quickly the dogs reduced the value of a human’s dependability. They demonstrated how they can determine a person’s reliability using their prior experience.

“Dogs have more sophisticated social intelligence than we thought. This social intelligence evolved selectively in their long life history with humans,” Takaoka said.

The experimental research Takaoka conducted is not the only one that shows a dog can determine whether or not a person is trustworthy.

In a different study, which was published in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, it was shown that dogs can also make judgments about who to trust based solely on observation. The way they conducted the study was quite simple.

The team consisted of one set of dog owners, one group of strangers who will assist, and the third group of strangers who won’t assist made comprising the three participants in the experiment. The dog owners are required to seek two groups of strangers for help as part of the study.

The results showed that dogs are also adept at reading social signs.

The dogs were wary of outsiders who did not assist their owners, and they also refused any dog treats coming from them. All of the canines included in the study had no interest in interacting with those who allegedly abused their owners.

“They evaluate the information we give them based in part on how reliable it is in helping them accomplish their goals. Many family dogs, for instance, will ignore your gesture when you point incorrectly and use their memory to find a hidden treat,” Brian Hare, the chief scientific officer at Dognition, says.

Wow, aren’t dogs smart? Did you know that they can do a lot more?

If you are interested in knowing what dogs can do other than the ones highlighted here, then this video is for you.

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Source: My Positive Outlooks, Jaw-Dropping Facts