Pawsome Pets: Dogs evolved ‘puppy eyes’ to manipulate humans

If a new study can be believed, the camaraderie could be due to some serious emotional manipulation. The study published recently looked at the evolution of puppy dog eyes – the look we all adore on our pets’ faces.

Interestingly, this research unveiled that dogs’ eyebrows-raised look of sadness to escape any consequence is an expression that finds its source in a powerful eye muscle that likely evolved to mimic human emotions. In this survey of dogs and wolves, the researchers found that the eye muscle was present uniformly in all modern dogs but conspicuously absent in their wild cousins. This muscle, allowing our dogs to pull off adorable puppy eyes, could be the reason they are able to steal our hearts with ease.

Each time your dog is raising its eyebrows, making its eyes appear bigger than they are, they know that the trick is going to help them get out of the situation they are in. Even though it is nearly impossible to say no to those adorable eyes, pet behavioural experts suggest that you should avoid encouraging your pet’s behaviour just because they make those deceptively cute eyes. If you have complied and given a treat one too many times when your pup showed you its big eyes, despite him or her having stolen from the cookie jar, it is time you put a stop to it. Assert yourself as the leader and don’t give in to those eyes.

Let your dog learn that puppy-eyetrick won’t cut it, even though it is an overload of cuteness. You are required to stay firm and not give in, even if your doggo doesn’t comply with your command right away. If it is ineffective, repeat the command several times. While you may need to repeat many times initially, the objective is to make him or her obey on the first command in future.