We all know that dogs are a big furry ball of unconditional love. As much as we try to understand them, there are a lot of different things we are still unsure of about our best friends. One peculiar behaviour that you may have always wondered about is why your dog seems to tilt their heads to one side when you’re talking to them.
Well, according to the latest report out of the Animal Cognition journal, some researchers have tried to explain this behaviour.
The study aimed to determine how often dogs would tilt their heads when performing certain cognitive intensive tasks. Additionally, the study also tried to find out if the direction of the head tilt was affected by performing the tasks.
The study asked the dog participants to retrieve a specific toy that is located in another room after the researchers said the toy’s name out loud. This required the dogs to recognise that the saying of the toy’s name out loud was a form of a command. The dogs also needed to recall the object in their minds and retrieve it.
Why do dogs tilt their heads one way or another?
40 dogs from a range of different breeds participated in the study. The researchers noted that dogs who excelled at recalling the toys would tilt their heads more often than the dogs who struggled.
Researchers hypothesize that the head tilt was the result of the dog paying attention and matching the name to an image in their head upon hearing the name of the toy.
However, more research is required to determine why dogs tilt their heads one way or another. The researchers believe that the direction of the head tilt was simply down to the dog’s preference.
However, previous research may offer an explanation for this. Previous studies that involved scanning dogs’ brains found that the right hemisphere of a dog’s brain was more active in processing words.
But to conclusively determine the reasoning for the direction of a dog’s head tilt requires further studies.
While this research study probably won’t have a massive impact on your relationship with your dog, it is one step closer to getting a deeper understanding of our furry little best friends.
Although scientific research on this topic is still in its infancy, this is a dog habit that has surely intrigued you.
But remember, even if your dog doesn’t tilt their heads or retrieve their toys on command, they’re still very good boys/girls.
