Being on good terms with your dog may seem as easy as having a pocket full of treats and knowing how to give your belly a good scratch, but our four-legged friends are not always easy to please.
They are quick to judge a person’s character, and there are people they just don’t like.
It could be a specific person in the dog’s family, a friend of its owner, or a random person they meet on the street, but dogs recognize an enemy when they see one.
They may growl if a human comes close, or simply turn their tail and disappear.
Here are a few reasons why your dog doesn’t like certain people.
Dogs may not speak your language, but they are great at picking up tone of voice.
A scientific study published in 2016 showed that dogs’ brains respond to the tone of voice of the person who is talking to them.
In the study, the reward centers in the dog’s brain were activated when a human spoke in a high-pitched, joyful voice.
The dogs were happy to greet a happy person, but reacted negatively or ignored people who spoke in a low or angry voice.
While your dog is judging a person’s tone of voice, she is also watching their body language.
Dogs rely on body language to fill in communication gaps.
The problem arises when comparing how humans perceive certain body movements with how dogs interpret those same signs.
Between people, someone who does not make eye contact is perceived as cunning, deceitful, or suspicious.
However, in the canine world, direct eye contact is rude and even threatening.
#3 – How someone interacts with other people
A comparative psychologist at Kyoto University conducted a study to determine whether certain animals are capable of making social assessments in the same way that humans do.
He wanted to know if dogs could tell when a person is being rude to another person, and if that knowledge would influence their opinion of a person.
The owner then turned to another person for help.
Sometimes the person helped, and sometimes refused.
After each interaction, the dog was given the choice of accepting the other person’s attention or ignoring it.
On corners, when the person refused to help the dog’s owner, the dog was more likely to show signs of dislike for the rude person.
Research shows that if a person in your life is regularly rude to you, your dog will decide for himself that he does not like him.
Dogs are always team owners!
Everyone knows that dogs have an incredibly strong sense of smell.
Their first step when meeting a new dog or person is to give them a good sniff.
If they like what they smell and the interaction goes well – BAM, best friends for life.
Dogs that don’t like other dogs often avoid people who smell like unknown dogs.
Other smells that dogs generally dislike include citrus, vinegar, mothballs, and rubbing alcohol.
Rescue dogs who have been abused and abandoned do not forget their traumatic experience.
In some cases, they develop fears and distrust of people that remind them of their difficult past.