Dog trainer shares common misconception people have about puppies feeling 'guilty'

Have you ever caught your dog doing something he wasn’t supposed to do, or afterwards looking like he knew what he was doing was wrong? If so, you probably think the way they react to you makes them feel guilty, but Bronagh Daly, certified dog trainer and owner of Five by Five K9, says this is actually a common misconception.

Bronagh shared a video at the end of October with a compilation of the reactions of ‘guilty’ dogs to their father or mother. She explains that these dogs don’t actually feel guilty, but instead feel fear or stress based on how their humans react. She will explain each dog’s reactions and what their actions mean. Make sure your sound is on so you can listen in as she explains.

Bronagh ends the video by reminding us that these dogs are featured signs of stress And fear reactions in response to their liens behavior, not because they feel guilty. pinned ears, whale eyesAvoiding eye contact and appeasement are all signs of stress and anxiety, not guilt, even though it may look that way to us.

Commenters had mixed feelings about the video. @JConti got over 120 likes saying, “This makes me feeling sad. I never skip these videos. I never want my pups to feel like this.” @BizarreAnimal shared: “TBH, I believe guilt is rare in humans too. If a child makes a mess and the parent doesn’t seem happy, the behavior is almost identical. They usually do not feel that they have betrayed trust or done anything bad; they try to appease because they don’t want to be scolded. 9/10, they will do it again, but they will do their best not to get caught.”

Can dogs feel guilty?

Bronagh says in her caption that dogs cannot adjust their behavior based on something that happened more than 3-5 seconds earlier. If they shredded a roll of toilet paper twenty minutes ago, they may sense that you are angry about something, but have no idea why. Psychology Today explains dogs cannot feel guilty like humans do, but they understand our emotions and respond in kind.

Pascale Lemire, New York Times bestselling author Dog shame explains, “I don’t think dogs are really ashamed. I think they know how to calm us down with this sad puppy dog look, which makes us think they’re ashamed of what they’ve done. I guess their way of thinking is, ‘Oh man, my owner is super angry about something, I don’t know what, but he seems to calm down when I give him the sad face, so let’s try that again.’”

The Psychology Today article also shared, “The obvious conclusion is that dogs react with that guilty and ashamed look because they are afraid of what is going to happen, not because they notice that they have done something wrong.” This makes sense because we all know how smart dogs are. Just like our children, they learn that looking at us with guilt and shame usually makes things a little easier in the end. It’s hard to stay mad when you see those big, beautiful eyes looking at you like they’re saying sorry, Mom or Dad!

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