When we converse to our dogs, they occasionally tip their heads sweetly to one side.
According to a study released this week, a dog’s curious head tilt could actually be a sign of concentration and greater attention, rather than scepticism or confusion.
Researchers tested how effectively 40 dogs of various breeds could retain and recall the names of various toys in order to retrieve specific toys in response to their owners’ requests. The majority of the puppies were unable to memorise the names of the toys, but seven border collies excelled at it.
The scientists labelled that group ‘gifted word learners,’ and discovered that the seven collies all inclined their heads considerably more frequently after hearing a command than their non-gifted counterparts.
The statistics revealed that the smart students turned their heads 43 percent of the time, whereas the other 33 dogs only did so 2 percent of the time.
In a press release, Shany Dror, an animal cognition researcher from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary who co-authored the study, said, ‘It appears that there is a relationship between success in recovering a named toy and frequent head tilts upon hearing its name.’ As a result, researchers propose a link between head tilting and the processing of relevant and meaningful inputs.
According to the study authors, this is the first study to look into dog head-tilting behaviour.
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