Dogs Are Just as Happy to See the Back of Us!

A Hungarian study, using a variety of breeds, has found that dogs are not 'hard-wired' to respond to the visual cues of the human face (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/oct/05/dogs-brains-not-hardwired-to-respond-to-human-faces). Responding to facial features, is very much a primate thing, as the face is used to communicate a wide range of emotions in social species belonging to this Order. Humans concentrate on the faces of individuals who are in close proximity to them (it starts very early in childhood and is even seen in the congenitally blind). Dogs, on the other hand, are pack animals of the Order Carnivora, that get their social information via odours and sound tones. In the study, dogs appeared to be just as impressed by the back of their owner's head as they were by the face. It seems to work pretty well for both participants of dog-human combos.