Getting on a dog’s good side may seem as easy as having a pocket full of treats and knowing how to get a good belly rub, but keeping our four-legged friends happy isn’t easy.
They quickly judge a person’s character, and there are people they don’t like.
It can be a certain person in the dog’s family, a friend of the owner or a random person you meet on the street, but dogs know an enemy when they see one.
They may growl if a person approaches or turns tail and disappears.
Here are a few reasons why your dog might not like some people.
Dogs may not understand your language, but they are experts at picking up tone of voice.
A scientific study published in 2016 found that dogs’ brains react to the tone of voice of the person talking to them.
In the study, the reward centers in the dogs’ brains were activated when a human used a loud, happy voice.
Dogs greet a happy person, but they react negatively or ignore people who speak in a deep or angry voice.
When your dog evaluates a person’s tone of voice, they are also observing their body language.
Dogs depend on body language to help bridge communication gaps.
The problem arises when comparing the way humans perceive specific body movements with how dogs interpret those signals.
People who do not make direct eye contact are perceived as fickle, a liar, or suspicious.
In the canine world, direct eye contact is rude and even threatening.
#3 – One’s relationship with other people
A comparative psychologist at Kyoto University conducted a study to determine whether some animals can make social judgments like humans.
He wanted to know if dogs can tell if a person is being rude to another person, and if this knowledge affects their judgment of the person.
Then the owner of the house asked another person for help.
Sometimes people helped, sometimes they refused.
After each interaction, the dog was given the choice to receive the other person’s attention or ignore them.
When a human refuses to help a dog owner in a corner, the dog is more likely to show signs of disliking the rude person.
Research shows that if the person in your life is constantly rude to you, your dog will decide for himself that he does not like him.
Dogs are the owner of the team!
Everyone knows that a dog’s sense of smell is incredibly strong.
When introduced to a new dog or person, their first step is a good sniff.
If they like the smell and the interaction is good – BAM, best friends for life.
Dogs that do not like other dogs will often avoid people who smell of unknown dogs.
Dogs generally dislike citrus, vinegar, mothballs and rubbing alcohol.
Rescue dogs with histories of abuse and neglect do not forget their traumatic experiences.
In some cases, there is fear and distrust of people who remind them of their difficult past.