Why Do Dogs Tilt Their Heads?

Most of us have seen dogs tilt their heads in adorable and curious ways and wondered why dogs tilt their heads. As per a study published in October 2021 in the journal Animal Connections, it may be a sign of increased focus. In a previous study, researchers asked dog owners to put toys in a room and tell their dogs to fetch specific toys by name. Unfortunately, dogs could not do this even after 3  months of training, but still they were labeled as Gifted World Learner dogs.

The GWL dogs had tilted their heads in one direction 43 percent of the time when their owners asked them to fetch the toys. Other dogs just tilted their heads only two percent of the time.

"It seems that there is a relationship between success in retrieving a named toy and frequent head tilts upon hearing its name," Shany Dror, researcher and co-author of the study said in a press release.

"Hence, it is important to refrain from thinking that only Gifted Word Learner dogs tilt their heads in other situ...

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