unterHUNDs Research
Dogs read people with a skill no other species matches – and much of what is claimed beyond that rests on thin evidence. These reviews separate the two: what the experiments actually test, and which simpler explanation would fit the same result.
These articles are written in English and aimed at trainers, behaviour consultants and veterinary professionals. Deutschsprachige Beiträge findest du im Hunderatgeber.
The owner comes home, sees the chewed shoe, and the dog is already doing it — head low, ears back, tail tucked, eyes turned away. The conclusion is immediate and feels unavoidable:…
August 1, 2026
A dog checks the same spot on the counter every evening, months after the food stopped being left there. Another abandons a puzzle after two attempts and looks at its owner. A thir…
June 14, 2026
The communicative relationship between humans and dogs is a genuinely unusual case of interspecies social cognition. Unlike most animals, dogs are not merely sensitive to human sig…
March 29, 2026
Among the senses that shape the behavior of the domestic dog, olfaction is the undisputed dominant channel. Where humans lean on vision, the canine brain is built to prioritize che…
March 28, 2026
Few questions in canine behavioral science provoke as much debate – or as many knowing nods from owners – as whether dogs feel jealousy. The scene is familiar: one dog gets a treat…
March 19, 2026
When we train a dog to sit for a treat, the behavior reliably produces a reward. But does the dog understand why it works – or is it simply repeating a reinforced association? When…
March 2, 2026
We know dogs react to the world. The harder question is whether they can, in any sense, reflect on the contents of their own minds – whether a dog can register that it lacks a piec…
March 2, 2026
Dogs are cleverer than the "just an instinct-driven animal" caricature allows, and decades of research have made that case convincingly. They read human communication with a skill…
December 16, 2025