Dog lovers will tell you there are few things cuter than the sight of their canine tilting its head. (Humans apparenty do it to make themselves more attractive.) Yet surprisingly little research has gone into figuring out why dogs do this. A new study of "gifted" canines out of Eötvös Loránd University showed that dogs often tilt their heads before correctly receiving a specific toy. Which suggests the behaviour might be a sign of concentration and recall. Dr. Andrea Sommese, who specialises in animal cognition and communication, led the study. He joins the show to discuss the study (An exploratory analysis of head-tilting in dogs) and why less cooperative dogs are not necessarily less intelligent.
Andrea Sommese is an animal science researcher at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. Photo: Supplied/Andrea Sommese
