Can dogs lie?
One of my Corgis is a liar. Really, she is.
She lies to us. If I say "ah-ah", she will put her ears back and apologize and swear she'll never do it again..... until the second I turn my back and then she's right back at it.
And she lies to Jack. Huge, whopping lies. I don't have a lot of rules with my dogs, but Jack does not like being crowded by man nor beast, and moreover is not at all a lap dog; if he comes up next to me on the couch for cuddles once a week, that is a lot. Combine those two factors and I do have one rule: if Jack is on my lap, Maddie must stay on the floor (or at the other end of the couch). Since Maddie gets more lap time in a typical hour than Jack gets in a week, it seems fair enough.
Maddie knows we have this rule. She knows there is no point in arguing. So what does she do? She lies right to Jack's face.
She looks up at him from the floor. She play-bows. She says "Harf harf harf!!" in an endearing way.
Jack lays there. He looks at her. He says "You are lying to me. I know it. I am staying here."
She does it again. She bows. She barks. Jack has no will-power when it comes to games. The dog was born to play. He hops down. He trots over to her....
...and she promptly jumps into my lap. Smug. Self-assured. Jack looks at me like "Did you see what she did?"
She does it if he has a bone she wants, too. She lays next to him on the floor. She gives him the sad eyes. Then she rolls onto her back. She wriggles around. She makes little huffing noises. Jack perks right up. Time to play! His eyes sparkle. He goes over to her....
...and she flips over and grabs his bone.
I can't be the only one with a dog who is a certified liar. I know that behaviorists will try to say that dogs are not that complex. They react. Or they follow their instinct, and their nose. But I saw that study with the Border Collie, the one who knew the names of 200 toys. They put him in a room with 2 known toys and a 3rd that he did not know, and said a name he never heard before. He looked at the 3 toys, figured if he knew the names of 2 and he hadn't heard it, then the handler must want the 3rd toy and the never-heard name must belong to the new one, and got the correct one every time.
Surely if a dog can use deductive reasoning like that, they are capable of lying.
What do you think?
She lies to us. If I say "ah-ah", she will put her ears back and apologize and swear she'll never do it again..... until the second I turn my back and then she's right back at it.
And she lies to Jack. Huge, whopping lies. I don't have a lot of rules with my dogs, but Jack does not like being crowded by man nor beast, and moreover is not at all a lap dog; if he comes up next to me on the couch for cuddles once a week, that is a lot. Combine those two factors and I do have one rule: if Jack is on my lap, Maddie must stay on the floor (or at the other end of the couch). Since Maddie gets more lap time in a typical hour than Jack gets in a week, it seems fair enough.
Maddie knows we have this rule. She knows there is no point in arguing. So what does she do? She lies right to Jack's face.
She looks up at him from the floor. She play-bows. She says "Harf harf harf!!" in an endearing way.
Jack lays there. He looks at her. He says "You are lying to me. I know it. I am staying here."
She does it again. She bows. She barks. Jack has no will-power when it comes to games. The dog was born to play. He hops down. He trots over to her....
...and she promptly jumps into my lap. Smug. Self-assured. Jack looks at me like "Did you see what she did?"
She does it if he has a bone she wants, too. She lays next to him on the floor. She gives him the sad eyes. Then she rolls onto her back. She wriggles around. She makes little huffing noises. Jack perks right up. Time to play! His eyes sparkle. He goes over to her....
...and she flips over and grabs his bone.
I can't be the only one with a dog who is a certified liar. I know that behaviorists will try to say that dogs are not that complex. They react. Or they follow their instinct, and their nose. But I saw that study with the Border Collie, the one who knew the names of 200 toys. They put him in a room with 2 known toys and a 3rd that he did not know, and said a name he never heard before. He looked at the 3 toys, figured if he knew the names of 2 and he hadn't heard it, then the handler must want the 3rd toy and the never-heard name must belong to the new one, and got the correct one every time.
Surely if a dog can use deductive reasoning like that, they are capable of lying.
What do you think?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sky and Lyla on
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I was just reading an article yesterday, I don't remember where now, that said that dogs are, in fact, capable of intentional deception. They didn't give any scientific backup, but I totally belive it!
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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I did a little googling of "dogs intentional deception" and did find one study that seemed to confirm it. You know, I realize the "I'm sorry" thing for dogs is not our idea of an apology; it's simply an appeasement/ submission gesture. But for the life of me I can't think of another possible explanation for pretending to want to play when she clearly doesn't want to play, except for intentional deception. And of course lying to another dog assumes the idea of recognition of self vs other. That's pretty high-level thinking.
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Permalink Reply by Roger/Laurie on
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We had to laugh because our Tenby pulls this same routine for lap time. When Chepstow jumps down to "play" Tenby races around the couch and into my lap. We warn Chepstow that this is a trick but he just can't resist that playful nature that Tenby displays. The sad thing is................we don't think Chepstow will ever learn.
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Permalink Reply by Steve on
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I enjoyed reading all the stories and thought "oh wow, this happens in your house too?". Corgis sure are smart and know how to get what they want!
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Permalink Reply by Denise Hawkins on
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When we had Archie and Reggie together, Reggie would start a huge fight, once we appeared to break it up, he would then limp and give it the sad eyes., if he got attention, he would carry the limp on for sometime.....but ofte forgot which leg he was supposed to be holding in the air and often did it to the wrong one!!
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Permalink Reply by Ashley and Copper on
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Ahhh, yes. Pooh was known for that or if he was being bad and I would lightly smack him on the nose he would sneeze forever like I beat him. lol Also, if he got yelled at or scolded for something he would wink one eye trying to change the subject. Copper is starting this and I'm not sure if it's a corgi thing or I just got two weird dogs in a row. lol
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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Livvy and Wynn do this the most. Livvy will run around in circles or anything she has to do to distract the others and then she's quick to get what she wants to get away from them. Wynn does this when he wants to go with me but he has it figured out before I do...such as he will make me think he has to go potty so I let him out when he really wants to go sit by my car and won't come in! He also will load himself and lay quietly in the back when I am calling him if I leave the car door open.
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Permalink Reply by Natalie, Lance &Tucker on
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Lance will be barking out in the backyard at something but as soon as I open the sliding glass door, he starts sniffing the grass, like who me, wasnt me. LOL!!!! Glad to know hes not the only corgi that lies.
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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on
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Sleeping dogs lie, if you let them.
But as Gwynnie once explained to me, "Just as the capability for abstract thought creates the possibility of schizoid mentation, the capability for communication creates the opportunity for deliberate deception if a capacity for malice is also present. No, Lori did not feed us before you came home."
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Permalink Reply by David on
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Yoda would pretend to want to play with Chewie, then when Chewie drops his toy to play with him. Yoda would go grab Chewie's toy and run. This is usually how a play fight session starts in my house. Chewie would fall for it every time!
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Permalink Reply by Lilo Bandit & Koda's mom Shannon on
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LOL, this was hilarious! And I know Lilo lies!
Ever heard the phrase... "You lie like a dog!"
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