Our canine pets are always around us. We take care of them like a responsible parent. Just like a child, we almost never want them to go out of sight. But do they know who or what they are? Are dogs self-aware?
Many pet-owners often ponder over this question. We recently took an interest in this intriguing topic as well. After looking into the depth of this question, we have succeeded to find some answers. Here are those findings for you canine-lovers.
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What is Self-Awareness for Animals?
Self-awareness is in itself a very complex term. Even human babies have a hard time grasping this idea. So evidently, we don’t expect our pets to be aware of their identity or existence.
For a very long time, we believed self-awareness to be a uniquely human trait. We kept wondering what goes on in their mind in certain situations. The scenarios may represent some contact with their reflection, sound or smell. For instance, when they look in the mirror, listen to own howls or sniff own body.
Each time we assumed, these pets don’t understand such a deep concept. We thought they must not have that much intelligence. However, with the advancement in relevant researches, that assumption has now dissolved. Today we have debunked the myth and discovered that certain animals do possess self-awareness. Also, their degrees of awareness vary significantly as we will know later.
The Self-Awareness Experiments for Dogs
You are not the first to raise the question of dogs’ self-awareness. Many scientists had asked this before and tried to find substantial answers through certain experiments.
The two tests described below are the most popular among those. These tests also have some variations. Researchers take these variations into account to reach a reliable conclusion.
The Mirror Test
Gordon Gallup was the pioneer of this famous self-awareness experiment. This 1970s’ test is also the first credible experiment for detecting self-awareness. Its process is relatively simple, but the results carry heavy significance.
Process – In the original mirror test, Gallup brought chimpanzees in front of a huge mirror. Many other animals have been the subject of this experiment, including dogs.
The large size of the mirror compelled the dogs to look at their reflection. In the end, researchers then drew certain marks over each dog’s eyebrows and ears.
The purpose was to see how the subjects react to this change. Do they go ahead and interact with the mirror? Or do they attempt to remove the mark by touching their head? The latter would indicate self-awareness in the subject.
Observation – Researchers noticed that the dogs are not touching the marks on the body. Instead, the canine companions are only barking at their mirror reflection. This denoted that, the dogs consider the reflections to be completely separate beings. They are barking at the mirror to communicate with their images.
Result – Unfortunately, the dogs did not pass the mirror test. They failed to show traits of self-awareness. For years this was the cornerstone of detecting self-awareness. But then came the sniff test or STSR.
Sniff Test (STSR)
After dogs failed the mirror test, many opined that the test is not for dogs. They claimed this test to be unfitting for canine animals. That is because canine beings depend on their olfactory abilities rather than visual.
To resolve the issue, the ethologist Roberto Gatti developed a new test for dogs. He named this new experiment as the sniff test or STSR (Sniff-Test of Self-Recognition).
Process – In the sniff test, Gatti took four stray dogs as the subjects. These dogs varied in both genders and ages. As a result, Gatti expected to receive correct results from the diverse subject group.
He walked each of these dogs and allowed them to urinate. He then collected samples for later use. Also, he placed these four samples in different containers. There was also a fifth container with an odorless urine-like chemical.
The dogs came in one by one in this area of containers and sniffed around each vessel. Gatti followed this process in different seasons and made some observations.
Observation – Each time Gatti conducted the experiment, he noticed the same pattern. Each dog spent much longer time sniffing the other four containers than his own. This denotes, the dogs already knew the odor of their urine very well.
Result -The test showed that dogs know how to distinguish between their smell and others’. This is a trait of self-awareness. Thus, the experiment successfully proved that dogs are aware of themselves.
So, Are Dogs Self-Aware?
The two experiments concluded that dogs are partially self-aware. This means, they cannot follow visual cues of self-awareness, but they are good at the olfactory ones. Dogs can fully recognize their scent anywhere.
They can figure it out from some similar specimens. However, they cannot detect their reflections in mirror, water, and other such surfaces.
Degrees of Awareness
The self-awareness among dogs can be of two categories as follows:
A. This is My Body
This body-based awareness among dogs belongs to the lower degree. Dogs with such awareness can detect parts of their own body. For instance, they know which tail is theirs and which one belongs to another canine being.
B. This Belongs to Me
Dogs adopt a higher awareness level when they get older. Then they can recognize which things belong to them. They will know which one is their toy, food, territory, etc. Such a degree of awareness teaches them to survive in adverse situations.
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Is There A Way to Improve Their Self-Awareness?
The self-awareness among dogs naturally increases as they grow older. The experiences they go through in their lives contribute to this. Additionally, a diverse range of events enriches their memory of smells.
This makes it easier for them to detect a similar smell in the future. Other than that, there has been no discovery of any method to improve self-awareness among dogs.
Wrapping Up
Dogs are intelligent enough to identify what’s theirs. For a domestic pet, this degree of self-awareness works well enough. If you want your adorable pets to be more self-aware, let them explore the world more frequently.
Take them with you to as many places as possible. No matter where they accompany you, their knowledge will keep growing. Also, they will later be thankful to you for enriching their memory.