How Dogs Detect When You've Gone Astray: Science Confirms Their Intuitive Judgment

We all know our dogs are brilliant, at least when it comes to judging people. It's why you feel more confident that your Tinder date isn't a serial killer when your dog loves him right away, and why you passed on that cool-seeming roommate after your dog refused to go near her. Now, science is here to back that gut feeling up.

According to Town & Country, a new published study in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews offers some concrete proof that dogs really can judge what kind of people the humans they see are.

For the study, researchers had dogs observe researchers in two scenarios. In both scenarios, one researcher visibly struggled to open a jar. In the first group, the second researcher offered to help and in the second, the second researcher refused to help. Then, both researchers offered the dogs treats.

The results? In the first scenario, the one where the second researcher offered to help the person who was struggling, the dogs were equally likely to accept the treats from both researchers. In the second, however, the dogs snubbed the researcher who had been a jerk and refused to help the person struggling with the jar.

Conclusion: Dogs can tell when someone is a jerk and even treats aren't enough to make them forget it right away. So if you want to be your dog's favorite, then be a nice person.