Dogs can judge for competency, study finds

Dogs are capable of judging human competency, new research reveals.

A study conducted by Kyoto University in Japan found female dogs in particular are able to judge how capable their humans are.

The university’s experiment involved two people opening containers with food inside, one struggled to open it and the other opened it with ease.

It was found that while male dogs had no preference, female dogs observed the two humans for a long time before finally approaching the competent person.

The study’s lead author, Hitomi Chijiiwa, said: “Our findings show that dogs, especially female dogs, are able to identify human competence, which can influence their behaviour, particularly if food is involved.”

The researchers concluded: “It could be advantageous for social animals to evaluate others based on not only social traits such as cooperativeness, but also on non-social traits such as skillfulness or competence, for example in observational learning contexts.

“The present findings suggest that at least female dogs can evaluate people based on their competence in a motor task, an ability likely to be advantageous not only in social learning contexts but also when choosing partners in situations requiring cooperation.”