Dogs watched humans be kind or cruel, and their reaction stunned researchers

For generations, dog lovers have believed their furry companions could sniff out a good person. A wagging tail at your friend? Must be trustworthy. A growl at a stranger? Time to reevaluate.

In a study from Kyoto University that challenges long-held beliefs about dogs’ social intelligence, researchers found that even after observing humans act with kindness or selfishness toward another dog, pet dogs showed no consistent preference for the nicer human.

The experiment involved 40 pet dogs of various ages who were first allowed to watch a demonstration: a fellow dog interacted with two humans. one who fed it (the “generous” human), and one who didn’t (the “selfish” one). Later, the dogs were allowed to interact with both humans directly. Researchers meticulously observed who the dogs approached first, how close they stayed, and whether they displayed excitement, such as jumping.


The results? No clear favorite. Dogs were just as likely to approach the selfish person as the generous one.

“It’s clear that reputation formation may be more complex than previously thought, even for animals like dogs that closely cooperate with humans,” said Hoi-Lam Jim, lead author of the study and a faculty member at Kyoto University.

The findings echo earlier research at the Wolf Science Center in Austria, which found that neither dogs nor wolves formed reputations about humans, even after multiple interactions. This latest study, however, focused on pet dogs.

Despite our strong instincts about our pets' emotional intelligence, scientists now say we may be overestimating dogs’ ability to socially judge others, or, at the very least, we haven’t found the right way to measure it.

Jim cautioned that the negative results might stem from limitations in the experimental setup itself. “It is possible that methodological challenges in the experimental design, particularly the use of a two-choice test, may explain our negative findings, rather than an absence of capacity,” she said.

The paper, titled “Do dogs form reputations of humans? No effect of age after indirect and direct experience in a food-giving situation”, was published in the journal Animal Cognition on June 28, 2025.

Researchers now plan to explore whether different populations of dogs, such as police dogs, service dogs, or free-roaming dogs, show different cognitive skills in similar tests. The idea that dogs can detect kindness may not be entirely off the leash yet, but for now, science says the jury is still out.