By Claudia Bensimoun

First Published: World Cynosport Rally

New insights into how dogs perceive us are reshaping training approaches worldwide. This RallyDogs feature by Claudia Bensimoun on barkuptoday.com dives into groundbreaking research by Monique A. R. Udell, Ph.D., exploring how dogs respond to human attentiveness through cues, context, and past experiences.

Her study, featured in Learning & Behavior, reveals dogs’ remarkable ability to interpret body language and commands, raising questions about their “theory of mind.” For rally and agility enthusiasts, Claudia’s analysis offers vital lessons on enhancing dog performance by understanding stress and learning patterns. Below are key findings from this study, along with their implications for pet owners. Read the full feature on RallyDogs.com here.

We often feel that our dogs can understand our behavior. But how do dogs learn to beg for food or to behave when we’re not watching? According to Monique A. R. Udell, Ph.D., and her team at the University of Florida, the way our dogs respond to our level of attentiveness indicates how they think about and learn from our behavior.

Their research suggests that a combination of specific cues, context, and prior experience influences how dogs respond to a person’s level of attentiveness. Our canine companions respond and understand human body language, verbal commands, and attentional states. Because a dog’s performance on tasks such as begging may vary with the stimulus presented and the state of human attentiveness, one may question the origin of perspective-taking behavior in domesticated pet dogs. 

Udell questions whether domestic dogs have a theory of mind. Theory of mind interpretations have in the past led to suggestions that “an animal with a theory of mind believes that mental states play a causal role in generating behavior and infers the presence of mental states in others by observing their appearance and behavior under various circumstances.” (Springer, 2011, p.289)

Although dogs cannot read our minds, this new research suggests that man’s best friend might be able to understand human behavior —or have a theory of mind, the ability to infer what their owners or handlers know. The idea for this research, published in Springer’s journal Learning and Behavior in 2011, was based on the work of Udell and her team.

The most recent research has identified a remarkable range of human-like social behaviors in our canine companions. This includes the ability to respond to human body language, verbal commands, and attentional states.

The question is, how do dogs do this? Do dogs infer humans’ mental states by observing our appearance and behavior under various circumstances, and then respond accordingly? Or do our dogs learn from experience by responding to environmental cues, the presence or absence of specific stimuli, or even human behavioral cues? Udell’s research sheds some light on these questions.

Udell and her team investigated the idea that domestic dogs living with humans and interacting with them daily were good at solving social and cognitive problems often thought to be uniquely human.

“While other researchers have proposed that dogs’ success on these kinds of tasks may indicate the evolution of a special ‘human-like’ social cognition or mind in dogs, we believe our dogs instead develop their human-like social skills as a result of living in human-based environments,” said Udell. Through her research, Udell found that our canine companions were more sensitive to stimuli given in their own home environment.

Udell and her team conducted two experiments comparing the performance of domestic dogs, shelter dogs, and wolves when allowed to beg for food from an attentive person or from someone who could not see the animal.

The researchers wanted to find out whether the animal’s rearing and living environments — whether a shelter or a human home — or the species itself (dog or wolf) had the greater impact on the animal’s performance.

One of the most interesting findings was that wolves, like domestic dogs, can successfully beg for food by approaching an attentive human. Both species (domesticated and non-domesticated) can behave in accordance with a human’s attentional state. Both wolves and dogs improved their begging performance rapidly when humans were attentive, suggesting that environmental factors, rather than domestication, drive this skill.

The study found that dogs and wolves alike adjusted their behavior in response to visible cues, such as an attentive human’s gaze, with performance improving significantly across repeated trials—up to 70% success in attentive conditions—highlighting their adaptability to human social environments.

This research by Monique A. R. Udell reveals that dogs’ and wolves’ ability to respond to human attentiveness stems from learned behaviors shaped by their environment, not an innate “theory of mind.”

For rally and agility trainers, this study underscores the importance of recognizing contextual cues and past experiences to optimize training, reducing stress and enhancing performance. Pet owners can foster stronger bonds by maintaining consistent interactions, proving that understanding canine cognition is key to their well-being.

This research by Monique A. R. Udell reveals that dogs’ and wolves’ ability to respond to human attentiveness arises from learned behaviors shaped by their environments, rather than from an innate “theory of mind.” For rally and agility trainers, the study’s findings emphasize the value of recognizing contextual cues and past experiences to enhance training effectiveness and reduce stress.

Pet owners can strengthen bonds through consistent interactions, highlighting the importance of understanding canine cognition for their well-being. This work lays a scientific foundation for advancing canine mental health research and practical care strategies.

Claudia Bensimoun, Dog Expert, Dog Human Behavior, Canine Perspective Taking, Dog Attentiveness Study, Monique Udell Research, Theory of Mind Dogs, Dog Learning Human Cues, USDAA Training Insights, Pet Behavior Science, Canine Social Cognition, Dog Begging Behavior, Human Dog Communication, Rally Dog Training, Claudia Bensimoun Canine Cognition, Dog Attentional State