I like my dog more than I like a considerable amount of humans, but I've recently come to a sad realization: He loves to ignore me.
I don't think it's out of spite, and I don't think he means to offend -- I've just grown to believe it's because he's a little bit lazy.
But now I finally have a scientific answer, and I was very, very wrong.
My dog has outsmarted me, and I'm a little upset.
He no longer listens to my commands, because he knows he doesn't need to. I've trained him that no matter what he does, he'll get a treat.
And now, he just goes straight for the treat and ignores the in-between.
He has me wrapped around his smart little paw, and it's all my fault.
Recent studies have proven the theory that dogs who stop obeying your irrelevant demands are actually smart AF.
According to NY Mag, the journal "Developmental Science" has found dogs will learn to ignore a demand that they deem unnecessary in order to accomplish a given task.
In a test conducted by psychologists from Yale's Canine Cognition Center, 40 pet dogs were tested on their ability to find a hidden treat in a puzzle.
The puzzle was seemingly easy and required the dogs to lift the lid of a box in order to attain their dog treat.
Simple, right?
To mix things up a bit, the authors added a lever to the box that didn't serve a purpose, with hopes that it would distract the pups.
After leaving the room and abandoning the dogs in their treat endeavors, they began to notice that the dogs had discovered the lever was unneeded.
Sure, there was trial and error -- but once they found out the lever wasn't helping them, they ignored it completely and went straight for the treats.
Way to go, pups.
So, the next time you think your dog's ignoring you, understand that he's just trying to avoid the bullshit.
Get on his level and you'll be fine.
