Research shows that if a dog tilts its head, its IQ is not a problem!

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Editor: Li Xuewei

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Have you ever noticed that your dog often tilts his head towards you?

It's the kind of cute head tilt that makes you feel reluctant to use force after destroying the house.

But why do dogs tilt their heads? One guess is that the dog has discovered the D area of ​​its owner, and whenever it tilts its head, the owner will release the happiness factor and caress and praise the dog. This leads the dog to form a cognition that "tilting the head = the owner is happy = I have a reward".

Another more academic view is that dogs tilt their heads to listen to their owners in order to better hear their owners' voices. Dogs' ears are close to the top of their heads, and they are less sensitive to sounds coming from the sides. A simple tilt of the head can help them better determine the source of the sound and distinguish the content of the sound.

However, the above are all personal guesses and there is no actual basis to support them. But a recent study shows that this may mean that your dog is a hidden genius!

The new study of "genius dogs" shows that those who can quickly remember the names of multiple toys often tilt their heads before correctly retrieving a specific toy. The research team believes this behavior may be a sign of canines' concentration and effortful recall.

An accidental discovery

The dog head tilt was discovered by chance by researchers while studying dogs with "a talent for language learning."

Generally speaking, most dogs have difficulty remembering the names of two toys, but many smarter breeds, such as Border Collies, can recall the names of at least 10 toys they have been taught.

The researchers selected 40 dogs and tested their ability to learn and recall toy labels over a period of several months.

When the toy's owner placed the toy in another room and asked the dogs to retrieve the toy they named, only seven dogs were able to quickly learn and remember the name.

One of the dogs, named Whiskey, was the “Best of the Best”! He correctly retrieved 54 of the 59 toys he memorized.

During the re-experiment, it was found that compared with the other 33 ordinary dogs, these genius dogs had one thing in common: they liked to "tilt their heads". The leader of this study, Andrea Sommese, an animal behavior researcher at Eötvös Loránd University, said: "This behavior pattern is too consistent to be a pure coincidence." Therefore, the research team decided to conduct further research.

Figure | Picture record of tilted head (Source: Science)

In-depth study on "Tilt Head Killing"

A quick search online revealed a slew of speculation, including the ones mentioned above: Dogs tilt their heads to better hear certain words or tones, or to see over their noses. Some say shelter dogs are more likely to do this, in a way that they use the behavior to please their humans.

However, all of this is just speculation, and there is little scientific research on this. Only a few veterinary papers have considered this behavior as a symptom of some health problem.

In dozens of attempts at the "genius dog experiment," 43 percent of the dogs tilted their heads when asked to retrieve a toy, compared with just 2 percent of the average dogs.

But the "head tilt" is not what makes these "genius dogs" unusual; they are likely to retrieve the correct toy regardless of whether they make this move or not.

However, the dog's "head tilt" behavior is indeed related to whether they have extraordinary learning ability. In the experiment, although all dogs were very familiar with their owners' command words, only the genius dogs who could correctly complete the command would continue to show head tilt behavior.

This may mean that the head tilt is not just a sign that the dog is familiar with a specific sound, but is also related to their psychological activities. For example, the dog may cross-reference this command with their visual memory of the toy.

This could be a sign of a genius dog's heightened ability to focus, and the researchers say they hope to delve deeper into this area, such as figuring out what sounds might have similar meanings to regular dogs and thus induce the same behavior.

In addition, these dogs also have their own head tilting habits, just like humans are used to using their left or right hands. The experiment found that if a dog always tilts its head to the left, no matter whether the owner stands on the left or right side of the dog, it will still tilt its head to the left.

Figure | Head tilt direction experiment (Source: Science)

After learning about this research, dog owners should pay attention. When your dog launches a cute "head tilt" attack on you, it may also be telling you that "I am not comparable to ordinary dogs." In this case, congratulations, you have a "genius dog"!

However, don’t blindly believe in the sign of a “genius dog”. If your dog tilts its head for a long time, it may be sick. Remember to go to the hospital for a check-up in time.

Reference Links:

https://www.science.org/content/article/why-do-dogs-tilt-their-heads-new-study-offers-clues