December 3, 2024, 8:27 am | Read time: 5 minutes
Dogs know how to influence us in a deliberate way. But how far does their ability to manipulate go? Can the four-legged friends also fake illnesses? And if so, for what reason? PETBOOK editor and behavioral biologist Saskia Schneider investigated the question.
“Mommy, I can’t go to school today – I have a stomach ache.” Let’s be honest: who among us didn’t fake illness as a child to avoid having to go to school? But do dogs also have this ability? After all, our four-legged friends are intelligent pets. Not only can they read and understand us humans, but they can also manipulate us. But can dogs deliberately fake illness? And if so, do they do this for the same reason as humans—for example, to avoid having to go to (dog) school?
The question is not easily answered due to the relatively scant research on the topic. However, it can be said with certainty that dogs are adept at discerning which behaviors afford them advantages. This insight is key to answering our question.
Overview
How dogs manipulate us
We humans often imagine that we have our dogs under control. However, our four-legged friends manipulate us in everyday life much more often than we realize. The tool of choice is often the dog’s gaze! They use this gaze to melt many human hearts and persuade us to part with a bite of our food.
The dog’s eyebrows are typically raised, which gives dogs a puppyish and sad look that touches us humans emotionally. This works so well that animals that are particularly good at raising their eyebrows even get out of the shelter more quickly, as English scientists found out in a study, the results of which were published in the specialist journal “Plos One.”
Dogs are able to deceive us deliberately
But dogs don’t just manipulate us with their eyes. In order to get what they want, the animals are even able to deliberately deceive us. Swiss scientists discovered this in 2017 in a study published in the journal Animal Cognition.
The study’s lead biologist, Marianne T. E. Heberlein, conceived the idea while observing her own dogs. When training them to housebreak, she always let them out into the garden at night and rewarded them with a treat as soon as they had done their business. One day, however, she noticed that one of the dogs was only pretending to pee in order to get the treat. 1
The research conducted by Heberlein and her team also confirmed the hypothesis that dogs are capable of employing strategies like tactical deception to secure advantages.
Do dogs also fake illness?
Faking illness in the sense that we humans understand it is an extremely complex behavior – even for dogs. We often pretend to be ill in order to avoid something—for example, work or school. Dogs rarely find themselves in this situation, and it would also require them to have an idea of what time or day things are happening that they would like to avoid, such as a visit to the vet.
However, dogs typically become aware of an impending vet visit only shortly before entering the clinic. Even if the four-legged friends are able to interpret signs of a visit to the vet earlier, they tend to react with avoidance behavior. They hide or don’t want to go. Very few dogs would think of faking an illness, especially as this would be a very complex behavior: lying down, acting weak and unmotivated, whining, and much more.
Behavior for attention
Sometimes, we humans also pretend to be ill in order to get something—for example, attention or help. Similar behavior can also be observed in dogs. Our editor, Dennis Agyemang’s dog, continued to limp after an injury, even after it had long since healed. He had learned that limping resulted in a great deal of attention from his owners.
Whether the dog also made the cognitive connection that limping implied an injury and that his master would, therefore, take more care of him cannot be ruled out but is questionable. It is more likely that the four-legged friend has simply learned: If I move like this, I get attention. Similar cases have also been reported by many other dog owners. 2
Dogs can mirror behavior
A somewhat rarer case is when dogs display behaviors that we associate with illness or injury because they imitate us humans. As good observers and socially oriented animals, dogs are able to mirror the behavior of their owners.
Trainers have known this for a long time and make use of this behavior when rehearsing tricks (“Do as I do”). In fact, this ability was also investigated and confirmed by English scientists in a study in 2006.
In most cases, mirroring behavior must be trained in small steps. However, some dogs also show it on their own. For example, if the owner is limping or constantly scratching, the dog may start to do the same. Similar observations have also been made for cats. However, this is a case of imitation and not deception.
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Conclusion: Manipulation, yes, deception only to a limited extent
Dogs can manipulate us and are quite capable of faking something in order to gain an advantage. So far, however, there has been little research into whether dogs also show behavior that is intended to simulate symptoms of illness or injury.
The four-legged friends are certainly capable of displaying behaviors such as limping or scratching themselves, even though there is no physical cause for this. However, this is likely not because they think, ‘My owner believes I’m injured or ill,’ but rather due to their learned experience that certain movements elicit attention. It is, therefore, impossible to say to what extent the animals pretend to be ill, as we do.
Therefore, if a dog appears lethargic in its bed or exhibits other signs of illness, it’s important to take these symptoms seriously and consult a veterinarian if there’s any doubt. Even if this happens just before the hated brushing or claw trimming.