Is it true that dogs do things out of spite and feel guilty when they do something wrong?
It is unlikely that dogs are spiteful, feel guilt, or know right from wrong. I’ve heard people say, “Even though he knew it was wrong, my dog got into the trash to get back at me for leaving him home. He knew it was wrong because he looked guilty when I came home.” For this to be true, your dog would have to think about what you have done to him in the past, (left him home), and the ramifications of what he will do now, (get into trash.)
To feel guilt, your dog must understand the abstract moral concepts of right and wrong, categorize behaviors as right or wrong, and connect what he did hours ago with your reaction to trash on the floor. All of this complex, abstract, past and future thinking occurs in a part of the brain called the Frontal Lobes. The Frontal Lobes comprise 29% of a human brain versus 7% of a dog’s brain. From studying the effects of brain damage, scientists know how the size of the Frontal Lobe affects abstract thinking and planning. Given the small size of their Frontal Lobes, dogs have minimal capacity for complex, abstract thinking or planning.
If your dog gets into the trash, it is most likely because he was bored and the trash was tempting and accessible. Dogs live very much in the moment and their behavior is guided by learning connections between events that happen within moments of each other. If you catch him in the act of getting into the trash and punish him, he will connect being punished with getting into the trash. If you find the spilled trash hours later and then punish him, he will learn that people seeing trash on the floor means punishment. He will not learn that getting into the trash caused punishment. The “guilty look” simply means that he has learned to be afraid of you when you see trash on the floor.
If you want to test the idea of your dog feeling guilty for getting into the trash, try this. Take your dog out of the kitchen and spill some trash on the floor. Then let your dog back into the kitchen. Act like you think he spilled the trash. Your dog will do a classic “guilty” look even though he had nothing to do with spilling the trash. Understanding the limitations of your dog’s thinking and learning will help you do a better job of training your dog and help you have more reasonable expectations.
Send your dog training and behavior questions to [email protected]
Or put them in the comments section.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.