Can't resist ... ridiculously high levels ... of doggy begging cuteness ... How do they know??

October 26, 2007 4:38 PM

Every dog I've ever known does that "putting their chin down on your knee/the nearest flat surface" thing when they decide they MUST have the tasty treat you're eating. It's ridiculously cute but ... where did it originate? No googling on wolfish or doggie traits I've done has mentioned it but I want to know more about it!

So I'm sitting here at my laptop and eating dinner, and as always my muttster is right next to me with chin planted on the arm of my couch, staring at me with those soulful, "oh if only I had a bite of whatever it is you're eating - I'm not really sure what it is but it's my favorite thing in the world, you know - I would be the happiest being in all creation" eyes ... And while I realize that by feeding her when she does that I've most definitely reinforced the behavior throughout her life, she did it even as a puppy (and of course I've seen other puppies do it, too). Strange thing is, though, I can't seem to find any mention of such behavior in any wolf-related articles I've googled, and it's most definitely a "begging for food"-specific behavior rather than a more general submissive trait ...

So while this isn't exactly the most burning question in the world, it IS something I've wondered about for a long time and if anyone has insight on it that they could back up with citations (I mean, yes, I understand that it's probably some sort of evolutionarily-derived behavior) I'd be ever so grateful: why DO dogs do that "plopping their chin on something while staring at you" thing? DO wolves do that, too? Or other animals? Is it something that puppies tend to do when feeding from their mother? It's just that it's so diabolically cute it almost strikes me as something they do 'coz they KNOW it'll get to their human moms and dads ... and I'd just love to know more about where it comes from (not that that'll help me to resist it =P) ...

posted by zeph to pets & animals (23 comments total)

Observational bias?
posted by wfrgms at 4:40 PM on October 26, 2007

For you, not the dogie...
posted by wfrgms at 4:41 PM on October 26, 2007

It's just that it's so diabolically cute it almost strikes me as something they do 'coz they KNOW it'll get to their human moms and dads

It likely is.

Research conducted by Harvard anthropologist Brian Hare and reported in the journal Science indicates that domesticated canines are better able to pick up on human social cues such as facial expressions than are our close relatives, the chimpanzees...

Dogs have exploited this talent over the millennia to make humans cater to their every need.
posted by occhiblu at 4:43 PM on October 26, 2007

(Abstract of the actual study.)
posted by occhiblu at 4:47 PM on October 26, 2007

The dogs that displayed the "cute" behaviors were the dogs the masters fed and cared for, which made it more likely that those dogs were selectively bred, which made it more likely that the genes governing the "aw, wook at da cute widdle puppy" behaviors were passed on.

I love my dog. I also know she's playing me with skizzles that would make the world's greatest con artists blush.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:08 PM on October 26, 2007

The "chin plant" is designed to reduce drooling, in a futile attempt to disguise the dog's ambitions. What you take to be cute is actually a clumsy stab at camouflage.

I can also explain why dogs circle round their little beds before lying down, but I doubt you're interested.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 5:10 PM on October 26, 2007

Yeah, it's not so much Observation Bias as it is Affirmation Bias. Sounds like you've got a well trained dog that doesn't 1) bark for food or 2) lunge for food, both of which can be tough to train out of a dog. Instead, she's resorted to the next-best behavior (in her mind), which is looking sweet and pathetic and OMGCUTEDOG.

My dog generally leaves me be when I'm doing certain tasks, like sitting at the computer, as I am right now. Eventually, though, her attention span will snap, and she'll come over and place her chin on my leg and stare at me with the irresistible eyes and sure enough, I wind up petting her and giving her a belly rub.

I'm sure this has been an issue for the band of humans that domesticated Canines throughout the millenniums. Be proud that you've got her well-trained enough to not be more of a pain in the ass while you're having dinner and enjoy the cute looks. It could be much, much worse.

But yeah, as Cool Papa Bell said, it's a con. But that's okay, isn't it?
posted by Ufez Jones at 5:19 PM on October 26, 2007

I can also explain why dogs circle round their little beds before lying down, but I doubt you're interested.

I, for one, am interested.
posted by alby at 5:41 PM on October 26, 2007

I, for one, am interested.

From what I understand, it was to pat down tall grass to help make a suitable bed in the wild. Clyde's theory may differ, but it's what I've read.
posted by Ufez Jones at 5:44 PM on October 26, 2007

I've always thought it was just laziness. Wolves probably don't do it because tree branches, et al., are less comfortable than sofas. Also because they probably don't anticipate spending as long staring before you break down and give them whatever they want*.

*I base this on the fact that if I were faced with a wolf and had some food item readily available, I would at first possible moment throw the food at the wolf and run.
posted by anaelith at 6:01 PM on October 26, 2007

They do the cute staring at you because it works, once you reward the behavior it's there to stay.

Dogs have nothing better to do with their time than to hope that what has worked in the past will work again, and plenty of time to practise.

They learn the behavior, I don't think it's an evolved behavior, like a survival skill, but they like the results. I don't think they try to be cute on purpose, they just are.
posted by starfish at 6:09 PM on October 26, 2007

My dog doesn't get (much) people food, but she does this when she insists on being taken for a walk.
posted by pmbuko at 6:13 PM on October 26, 2007

I always assumed it was because it gets so tiring, after a long day of playing & napping & being spoiled, to actually hold one's own canine head upright during begging, that they absolutely must prop it up on your knee or sofa arm in order to preserve their energy.
posted by tastybrains at 6:54 PM on October 26, 2007 [1 favorite]

Observer bias. Every dog you've ever known does this because you give them food when they do this. Many dogs do not do this.
posted by yohko at 7:21 PM on October 26, 2007

It's all the tainted fruit of evolution.

Before dogs took over, our noses and ears probably worked nearly as well as theirs. But they bred us to take the sharpness right out of those senses (though we still have superior vision and stamina).
posted by hexatron at 7:37 PM on October 26, 2007

I don't understand this use of observer bias or observational bias. Changing the observed's behavior by an extrinsic act is different than changing the behavior through the act of observation, or misperceiving the broader range of behavior, etc.

Anyway, the behavior that's being changed is ours. And it's probably more profound than anyone's letting on. How do we decide what's cute? I say we feed the dogs to keep them from attacking us, we come to terms with this situation by describing their routinely threatening behavior as cute, and so on. Standard Stockholm Syndrome stuff.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 7:38 PM on October 26, 2007

I'm not sure that my dog has done the chin rest thing for food. She does do it when she'd like to be let up on the couch, and sometimes will rest it in it my hand if i hold my hand over the side of the bed when she comes to see me (I suspect she'd like to be allowed up on the bed). She'll also do it towards our cats.

I think it is clearly a basic dog behavior, but the meaning, if there is one, is probably skewed by the way humans tend to react.
posted by Good Brain at 9:42 PM on October 26, 2007

I suspect it is basic dog behavior. Keep in mind that the dog was domesticated from a pack animal, the wolf. Dogs retain a lot of the deference given to a pack leader, which humans have exploited. In the wild, the leaders eat first, and the junior pack members have to sit and wait. A domesticated dog has basically accepted the humans in its home as senior members of the pack, so will accord those humans submissive behaviors in order to receive rewards.

What we call "puppy dog eyes" or "looking cute" are actually facial expressions the dog is adopting to emphasize its non-aggression. (I would be among those saying that our human behaviors are closer to the animal behaviors rather than trying to interpret animal behaviors through ours. So human cute performs the same function as dog cute.)

Wolf pack interactions is a Google video showing a wolf family at leisure in an enclosure. There's a lot of this deference-submissive behavior in there between the father and sons, especially.
posted by dhartung at 10:59 PM on October 26, 2007

My own (admittedly anecdotal) experience makes me think it's a combination of evolutionary behavior and learned behavior.

Evolution has left dogs with a specific range of behaviors. They can bark, they can do the non-aggressive-posture thing that dhartung described, they can whine, etc. And (as occhiblu points out) they can observe human emotions in response to each of these behaviors.

So (again, in my unscientific first-hand experience) dogs in a new home will run through all the behaviors they are capable of, and take note of which ones get them punished and which ones get them rewarded. Then they will (mostly) stick with the ones that get them a reward.

When I was growing up, our family dog Phred had a different way of getting food from each member of our family. With my mom, he'd do the rest-his-head-on-her-lap thing at the table. With my dad, he'd bark until my dad gave him food to shut him up. With me--well, he knew that I never fed him from the table, so he left me alone at mealtimes.

In each case, it was a different behavior, based on Phred's past experiences with each individual human.

So what I'm saying, it is a "generally submissive trait"--it's just that your dog has learned that, in his particular situation, it is most effectively deployed to get food.
posted by yankeefog at 2:12 AM on October 27, 2007

Adopted a little dog, about four years old. He never begged for food, ever, for the first year or so we had him. Never acted as if human food was edible, and we never allowed him to have any.

Then one day he was walking by while I was eating a sandwich on the couch, and I called him over and offered him a piece, because I am an idiot. He ate it, got really excited, and plopped his face right down on the couch right then and there to get more, and from that moment forward whenever he wanted food from me. In the year we initially had him, he'd never done that before.

So it does seem to be something built in.
posted by davejay at 2:31 AM on October 27, 2007

My dog does this in the evening when we are sitting on the couch-- he flips his head around and rests his chin on the couch cushions (from his position on the floor). We've never given him any sort of reward for this behavior, save the occasional head pat, but he's been doing it consistently his whole life.

When he wants food he very dramatically flops down on the floor in a complete lying-down position and looks up at you. Somehow during training he decided if sitting is good, lying down is wayyy better, and more likely to result in tasty treats.
posted by miss tea at 5:24 AM on October 27, 2007

It's pack-mentality and innate to their nature.

Dogs are pack creatures...descended from wolves. If you ever watch specials on wolves, coyotes, huskies etc any pack of canines you will see that the most dominant of the group, or the alpha male as it were, will always eat first. The ORDER of eating is probably the most indicative way to see who's the alpha in any pack. That's why experts recommend you NEVER feed your dog before you, and he shouldn't eat near YOUR table either. No scraps for him either as it puts him "on your level."

If you've ever seen Alaskan Malamutes or Siberian Huskies they perform the "chin on the ground" behavior a lot with the Alpha. It's their way of intently watching the food being eaten and expressing they would love nothing more than to have some. It also shows that they're being *submissive* which is all the alpha usually needed to allow them a morsel or two.

This instinct has passed on to our domesticated best friends today.
posted by PetiePal at 8:13 AM on October 27, 2007

Thanks for the answers, everyone, they've been fascinating to read. Sounds like a combination of instinctual -and- learned behavior makes the most sense - I certainly wouldn't question the fact that by feeding her when she does this I've ensured my muttster will continue doing it, but the fact that it -is- similar to submissive behavior found in wolves helps me understand where the heck she (and other dogs) got the idea from in the first place - I know my dog had done it even as a puppy, and she'd been taken away from her mom at a younger age than she should have been so it didn't seem likely she'd originally learned it from another dog. The idea about it being the trait of a dog who knows better than to bark for food makes sense, too - I've never "rewarded" barking or stealing with her but darn it, once my dog turns on the "chin on lap and staring pitifully up at me" routine it's all over =)

At any rate, I enjoyed reading everyone's input on the matter (Occhiblu, I loved that article and study you linked to! It seems very right, and is very appealing, to think about dogs being especially attuned to human behavior - I know there've been times I've only realized I was "telegraphing" certain intentions only because my dog started reacting to clues I didn't even realize I was giving off ... And Ufez Jones, your dog is -adorable-, I know -I'd- have a hard time not giving in to those puppydog eyes =) Thanks again for your comments, everyone!
posted by zeph at 6:54 AM on October 28, 2007