The study, published in the journal Current Biology, suggests that dogs are able to read our “communicative intent” — that is, our intention to interact with them — via our faces, an ability that very young humans possess.
“Increasing evidence supports the notion that humans and dogs share some social skills, with dogs’ social-cognitive functioning resembling that of a 6-month to 2-year-old child in many respects,” study researcher Jozsef Topal of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, said in a statement. “The utilization of ostensive cues is one of these features: dogs, as well as human infants, are sensitive to cues that signal communicative intent.”