A lot of people think that dogs recognise and love happy, or cheerful human faces, as well as that dogs have the ability to very easily see if someone is happy, sad or angry, but is that really the case?
According to the research of scientists published in the journal Current Biology, there is a whole spectrum of canine perception based on the observation of human eyes and based on that, they make a conclusion about someone’s emotional state. Eleven dogs participated in the study, and the examination was conducted on the basis of photographs of happy and angry facial expressions.
The question is how do dogs recognise human emotions, that is, how can they see in the eyes and facial muscles around the eyes whether someone is happy or not? The basic assumption is that since dogs spend their whole lives with people, they manage to learn and memorise different facial expressions in their owners, and based on that, they can read the emotional state of other people. Also, they cannot be deceived by false facial expressions, because they are able to notice even the smallest deviations from the established rules.