Why Do Dogs Tilt Their Heads?
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- čas přidán 29. 05. 2017
- There's no question that a dog tilting its head is one of the cutest things possible, but why do they do it?
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Sources:
www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...
mentalfloss.com/article/70205/...
tvblogs.nationalgeographic.com...
www.cell.com/current-biology/p...
books.google.com/books?id=P3G...
they do it so we can go "aww!" and pet them
TheEmarald Gamer This could actually be true. The cuter the animal the more likely we'd be to feed it scraps, increasing it's survivability and ensuring future generations of head titling cutiepups. D'aaaaaw-inism.
EAT BREAD we gotta wait to find out what happens then
TheEmarald Gamer Seems like it already has. Being able to take advantage of human settlements and it's leftovers/refuse is what separated the wolves whose descendants became proto-dogs from those who remained wolves.
EAT BREAD well damn
TheEmarald Gamer At least that seems to be a likely possibility of doggo origins. If so it means we didn't breed the dog species into existence but rather our presence created a new niche that lead to an evolutionary branch in wolves. In other words natural domestication, or survival of the cutest.
Rising inflection? _tilts head_
Rising inflection? _tilts the other way_
Rising inflection? _tilts back_
*Whooosha'good boy?*
Is it... me? Am I a good boy?
*Who's a boy? Who is it? Who ish it?
Romeball I'm a boy 😃
Red-Haired Shanks are you a good boy tho?
*tilting intensifies*
*casually tilting my head back and forth thruout the video*
omfg you got me XD
I did because my dog was watching me and I wanted to see if he would copy me
How do you know about me?!
I was doing that the whole time like i was a dog
Yeah just like what the narrator is doing 😂😂
One does not simply talk to a dog in a normal voice.
Obviously... you gotta talk interestingly to 'em
Max Jonhson I talk to my dog in whistle. There's a whistle for sit, stay, come, lay down, and to let the dog know when I'm pissed and pleased
Max Jonhson you gotta sound excited for them to come to you and if they don't you have to sound angry
WHOS A GOOD BOI. WHOS A GOOD BOI. WHOS A GOOD- “wait......did u just assume my gender” IM TRIGGERED gxiufofitdojfogsuhdugxigfgfihdhxl
@Boi if you don't
Wait, you talk to your dog like I talk to my dinosaurs in ARK?
I know I tilt my head a lot, mainly to show that I'm lost or just straight up confused.
Gin the raptor lol i do that too
Gin the raptor same
But yer a raptor not a dog.
xxXXRAPXXxx Raptors can do cute head tilts.
Gin the raptor
And then they jump in your face :)
Dogs are cute
Stressed Pineapple couldn't have said it better.
Spookbumps but it's not even... Sigh. Nevermind.
Alonso Mancini ?
Dog* is* tasty*
SumageGames China intensifies
I thought they were confused
Lol
Same
Same
Same 😂
I always thought that too....they were trying to figure out or understand what we were doing or saying.
Just ask the Dog Whisper to ask a dog why they tilt their heads. If the dog doesn't reply, he's a phony.
James Burgess this made me laugh more than I should've
My dog has been blind since birth and always tilts his head when he recognizes sayings
Anyone with a deaf dog here? Deaf and blind?
aww that's sweet
your an angel for taking him in
My dog only tilts her head with words that she recognizes. Like "car" or "walk". If i'm teaching her a new word or command, she wont tilt her head in response to the word until she knows it and has it down.
Your telling lie's
+ruletste
You're* lies*
my dog usually always tilts his head to "outside" & other stuff that you mention but at other times he does it to random stuff
my dog does when I say "pizza" "Bear" (his best buddy) and when I ask if he wants to go outside.
Nilguiri illiterate or im-lit-m8?
Cause it's fuckin cute, that's why.
StupidCrapyolo that’s the real reason they do it, to get more attention, dogs are smarter than we give em credit for...
Yep! I always figure she is just being cute to get attention! lol
Yeah nice!
My grandma has a blind dog and it constantly tilts it's head when talked to so it makes sense that they would do that to hear where the sound is coming from or just to understand it better. He also does this sometimes just when walking around, maybe they have a weird version of echolocation.
Scishow asking the real questions now
Slice
good one.
and doesn't answer them, but reveals mildly interesting results reminiscent of "I googled for 5 mins, this is all I got, welp"
to be fair there is no conclusive answer as of yet but YEAH I agree PICK A DIFFERENT TOPIC THEN!
Welp is not a word.It is a mispronunciation of the word "well"..and looks SO ignorant in text.
Carol, the English language isn't set in stone. New words come about all the time, the term "Welp" is commonly used in informal speech to show resignation or disappointment towards a set of facts or circumstances. If anyone is ignorant here, it's you; you must have been living under a rock for the last ~10 years to not pickup how people regularly communicate with each other.
Weird that they don't theorize that it is a form of playful communication. It seems to convey curiosity as an outward expression that lets the other know what they are thinking. I wonder if dogs do the head tilt when with other dogs, by themselves, or in the wild.
all I've noticed is that they tilt their heads when we/I make weird sounds xD
Yeah, my german shepherds only tilt when I make weird noises, never seen them tilt when I'm only speaking.
Dogs never cease to fascinate me with their uncanny connection with humanity.
Because they're animated by Shaft...
Sorry about that ^^
uiuy1uyui Anime, yes. Cute girls too, I'll agree but that's not what they're known for...
They're known for their head tilts, which is a... gimmick of theirs ^^
They do both cute girls doing cute things and cute girls doing terrifying things.
arararagi san
Pierre-Louis Veyrenc im surprised so many people got this joke
I wouldn't talk about Shaft like that. You see, this cat Shaft is a bad mother...
He's a complicated man, no one understands him but his woman.
I always thought the head tilt was about triangulating sound. Tilting the head places one ear above the other, effectively creating a skewed triangle between the point of the dog's focus and his two ears. This means each ear relays slightly different location information to the dog's brain. Something that does not happen when both ears are perfectly equidistant from the sound (as is the case when the head is held level).
The reason why dogs likewise tilt their heads when their owner is speaking to them is because body language is an unavoidable indicator of emotion, and the dog is undergoing the same emotional state when the owner is speaking to them as they are when they are trying to locate or identify a sound- namely the desire to understand.
I always thought it helped them with sound localization. By changing the elevation between both ears this allows them to use interaural time/intensity differences to determine the elevation of the sound. Another example is seen among owls who have their ears not perfectly aligned in order to help with sound elevation localization in the same way.
No that’s old wives tails
Love your content guys, this channel has grown so much since I subscribed! Keep it up, SciShow! You too, Hank...
Dog cognition lab. Dognition lab.
Do dogs actually love you?
Knightmare36923 yes!
Knightmare36923 they do , it has been scientifically proven
The better question is: Do cats really love you?
That is an easier answer. As long as you have food the answer is yes. If you dont you might as well be a stranger.
I gauge a pet's love by how quickly it would decide to eat my corpse.
SciShow!!! Come up with a smart people word for this, but the dogs are inquisitive, young, curious, interested and/or confused.
I've done extensive research in regards to training and raising dogs and have also had experience raising dogs.
I have found that you see this, "Head Tilt" far more in younger dogs than older dogs generally because the older ones just care less due to life experience.
Know more? rather than care less?
I've raised several dogs and have noticed the same thing
Not true. My neighbour's dog is like 12 or older and she still tlit alot.
WHT DOES MY LEFT EYE SEE EVERYTHING BLUE TINTED AND MY RIGHT EYE EVERYTHING RED TINTED!!!!!!
no I am not screaming...
I know, I've always wondered that. I think it could be to balance colors, one sees a little red, the other sees a little blue. When combined, you see the color you're supposed to. That's what I think although I'm most likely wrong.
Ambar Rivera, if you lay in the sun with your eyes closed, you will see the difference like a lot better!!
and now I am triggerd that they see 2 "different" colours XD
Harley .G I have a blue tint on one eye and yellow in the other
Hey me too. I thought I might have just looked at the sun too much as a kid XD
I got the answer... you are wearing 3D glasses!
I love my dog ☺️
I love your dog too
Adopt me
Dogs are social animals, signaling that something is odd is good for survival.
I love how you can just get on CZcams and ask it a question about anything and have someone break it down and easily understand how life works...God we are so blessed. Love you man 🙂
Urgh? (head tilts)
But what if my dog is both a pug and a beagle
it's a puggle then
what if it's a bulldog and a shih tsu
Arduino.......politician then
a bull tsu, its a puggle not a pugbeag and a labrododdle not a lab poo
Wouldnt a labrododdle be a dog that is easy?
I usually tilt my head to read something because my dominant eye is my right eye. Somehow I like to get my right eye closer to what I'm reading, but I don't think about it until it starts hurting from getting too dry.
Sort of the same. Eye condition and I a tilt my head to either read better and a few other things that needs better specific focus.
I have a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, she doesn't tilt her head often, and only tends to do so when I ask her a question that she hasn't heard me ask before (i.e. something other than "do you need to go outside?" or "would you like to go for a ride?"). Dogs fascinate me, their psychology, biology, and evolution are all absolutely riveting to me.
"Nucleus Ambiguus" sounds like a name a biologist had to come up with on the spot, when questioned and didn't know what else to call it.
Bosley, you want some chicken? *tilts head*
My dogs tilt their head when they hear something strange. So I tend to believe it is to hear things better rather than see things better.
WheelmanGames
Me too, but none of my nine dogs tilt their heads, but I breed Dalmatians and they are notorious for deafness and reducing hearing (though all of mine have been tested for hearing and can hear).
*I* tilt my head when I hear (and see) something strange. No idea why it happens, but it happens and I had to have it pointed out to me to be aware of it.
Wheel, That's true. I've only ever seen my dog tilt their head to a sound, often made by toys or the TV so changing their view doesn't necessarily help.
migos
I love his voice, its so calming
Because there trying to get a glimpse of me
John Cena lol yes
John Cena how if they can't see you
They can't see the grammar in your writing
AND HIS NAME IS JOHN Stamos! EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK.... EVERYWHERE YOU GO.
ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT?
The 2 Boston's living with me tilt their heads when they hear key words like (bone,out,bed, boom boom, good boy,smart and other words). IMO ,they seem to have a degree of understanding repetitive sounds we humans call words. Lol, they also know their names,lol.
My dog does the same thing when she hears things she likes, like "biscuit" and "walk"
True, so, the brain/cognition thing might be in place, here. Are they long nosed or short? Flappy ears or not?
"Boom boom"...???
Probably 💩
They are seeing how long it takes us humans to work out why they are doing it.
It's a pleasure to listen your voice
My dog does it when she's in trouble just to be cute and try and make me forget why I'm mad at her in the first place. Always makes me laugh no matter what she did. My wife does it back to her and they get into a head tilting contest that is really hilarious to watch.
but why do they tap their paw when scratched?
I tilt my head too when I'm tryst by to concentrate on a sound, I don't think it's just dogs
Cutest video I've seen in a while 😍💜
To me it's whenever you do something NEW or say something NEW is when dogs tilt there heads, whenever they are listening to something unfamiliar
Doggos
Epsilon Sequence want tacoooos
it's because the dog is thinking, what the heck are they at now.
Ask a dog.
Dogs secretly talk among themselves when humans are not around.
They watch Scishow too.
well here I am again. sitting on the toilet watching sci show.... my favorite past time
There's a typo in the description. You've written "titling" instead of "tilting".
So they don't tilt their heads at all if a human is not in front?...Pretty limited studies if they don't test other kind of situations...
Because they cracked the code for awesomeness and cuteness.
I know that it always makes me smile.
Next video title - "Why do dogs look at things?"
Why do dogs eat grass? My Yellow Lab looks like a cow some days
Jacques Huot because that's how the clean their stomach 😉
Sometimes it's to get water from the dew on the grass, other times it's to make themselves sick to help with digestive issues as SDD525 stated.
Thanks, Michael
I always thought dogs tilt their heads out of confusion. I remember trying to take a picture of my dog and he titled his head because he never saw my phone before.
"Tilting see you better" no, won't believe it or follow it. Sounds absolutely ridiculous.
The other theory where they suggest they're trying to hear better makes a LOT more sense. We do the same thing, if we hear an odd noise we'll tilt and twist our heads trying to hear it better subconsciously. The dog doesn't always tilt its head, usually only when there is a "new" sound they haven't heard before or something quiet.
Makes a lot more sense the second theory.
sacr3 Are you dumb? He explained possibilities for why the dog would tilt its head to see better. If you had a huge nose blocking a portion of your vision you might do the same.
Look at a fox hunting in snow, tilts its head to pin point the sound. I go with the second.
sacr3 Could be a combination of both. Science is seldom cut and dry.
@SR Teacup it still sounds ridiculous period.
Please don't call me period.
What if it's a combo of the different things??
You have such a pleasant voice!
I love that when I thought "but are these percentages significantly different?" my question was answered immediately. This is why I love scishow :D
Sci brought to you by hipsters speculating on scientist blog survey results, theories, and anything else that doesn't use the scientific method and proper research.
Boy .. you got up on the wrong side o' bed ... you got no doggo to tilt head at you?? Sad, that.
I don't have friends :-(
You need a dog.
Go cook sum chems and you can rent sum
I have no idea, but it's cute-eriffic! and I'm glad they do it. :)
Lol in the advertisement, someone said "OK GOOGLE" and my phone got activated by that voice 😂😂😂😂😂
Yas notification skwad 🐶
Another option and the one I think is most relevant is;
Evolutionary pressure. I.e. Humans found it cute so they are most likely to be bread. To Test this hypothesis. Check frequency of occurrences between dogs and wolfs.
Lucid Moses That's actually a solid way to test that hypothesis.
Thanks, As you would expect I have a prediction of the results. But right or wrong, I'd be interested in the answer.
"they are most likely to be bread" u wot
+OldKing Cole, Last I check they where still dogs. Get back to me when they've diverged from the dogs species. I'll reevaluate your comment then. :p
+OldKing Cole
You are a dog breeder. You have two Rottweilers, but for economical reasons you can only care for one litter for the foreseeable future.
Do you breed doggo #1 who is a great working dog, intelligent, does everything that's expected of the breed, or
do you breed doggo #2 who's all that, but also does a cute little head tilt whenever you say something weird to it?
There's gotta be a functional reason behind the head tilt imho, don't get me wrong, but don't underestimate the power of emotion on humans.
Its probably a combination of seeing us better, changing the angle of the ears to zero in on the sound better, and getting us to go "aaaawwwww" and pet them. But I have nothing to back any of this up with.
My sisters dog shows a much clearer head tilt on words or short phrases that the dog recognize, compared to unknown words/phrases.
Almost like a "Oh! I understand that!"
I'm scare of dogs!!😑😰😭
Amin Lotfi why doe
Adam Shuey I don't exactly know.Probably just because they bite and bark!!
Amin Lotfi not gonna lie not the greatest reason to be afraid of them
Adam Shuey So my main question is that why do they bark or bite sometimes. It is like they want to rip your face up so badly.I think the only thing that I can do to face my fear is to get a dog 👌🏻👈🏻
Amin Lotfi I'm scared of your grammer
1 i am proud to say great video and be part of the notification squad
SCI SHOW FAN 2.0 congrats dude
SCI SHOW FAN 2.0 i
SCI SHOW FAN 2.0 mo
Nice profile picture
I always assumed it was a surprised or confused look to try and hear you better. It mainly seems to happen when you make weird noises but doesent happen when you make just weird faces at your dog.
I have another hypothesis:
Ears are good at telling the origin of sound along a plane. By tilting the head, they also tilt the plane. By comparing where the sound comes in more than one plane, they can pinpoint exactly where the sound is coming from. When a sound is interesting to dogs, their curiosity makes them want to know more about that sound. And determining its precise direction is one thing they can readily do.
Interesting hypothesis on why dogs tilt their heads. The hypothesis seems likely, but somehow it takes away some of the cuteness of dog's head tilting.
pugs do it all the time. Alexndra is an amazing scientist!! her paper on play was insightful.
The thumbnail caught me off guard like what am I looking at? Took me a second lmao
People tilt their heads a lot to show confusion. I always figured it was a learned trait, but I've always wondered which one of us learned it.
he is so cute adorable
i love scishow
Every time you ask my Nana's doodle a question he sits and tilts his head, which I find adorable. If you ask my Great Pyrenees a question, she runs away and grabs your shoe.
answer: because it's ADORABLE!!!!
This video is the culmination of ten years of vaguely wondering about my dog.
Smarter Every Day does a great video on this.
They do it to look cute and make us go, "Awwwwww". And they are hoping to get a snack.
When I say , Do you wanttttt a pupcup/puppccino? My dog does that and proceeds to smile. So he knows what’s up! 😂😂
I thought the dog head tilt was the dog saying "I trust you with my life.....why are you so weird?" lol
They can def see emotion. Our dog we had, you could just do a frown or look angry, and it would go to it's sleeping thing. Or smile and it would come happy towards to you.
Just a guess but I think it might have to do more with sound localization.
There are certain species of owl who's ears are arranged, one side higher on its head than on the other side. This helps the owls localize prey sounds elevation in addition to azimuth, or radial direction.
Dog's may be gauging sound height.
Heck, I myself have made use of this once or twice, like in a large echoy room when I wasn't sure whether a sound was reflecting off the ceiling or coming from near the floor... BTW, it works!
Emrad
Because it makes them a thousand times cuter 😻
the head tilt is one of my favorite things about dogs
Holy cow, this is where you've been, Michael! I remember you from the good old Fiesta Beat and CharieIsSoCoolLike days :D
My dog suddenly became fascinated by an oscillating heater. The heater was nothing new, he was familiar with it. It had been in the same spot for months and was regularly being used. Just one day he started head tilting obsessively. He wouldn’t get away from it. For over an hour he was just staring and head tilting at this heater.
The next day, it wouldn’t oscillate anymore. I am convinced that he could hear the motor failing. I oiled the gear, it started working again, and he isn’t interested in it anymore.
The second one seems most likely. Dog's hearing is super sensitive so it makes sence that they would tilt their head to help locate the sound and direction it's coming from better. We do it too. At a concert for example, there are noises coming from everywhere, audience members, the band, your friend trying to yell something at you. I hear better when tilting my head a bit in these circumstances and seen others there also do it. I wonder if dogs hearing is the same, sound from all directions and tilting must help them track where this particular sound i.e. our voice, is coming from.
I work at the Heritage Humane Society in Virginia, & I think the hearing hypothesis makes the most sense. I see dogs tilt thier heads when focusing on a sound outside of the room. They are not trying to read facial expressions in this instance, simply trying to hear better (so it seems).
When you showed the picture of the pug I started dying.
studies are showing more and more that tilting is actually a "facial expression" evolution for dogs, gained from their access to humans alongside their own evolution of the same. good stuff.
Tilting is just subconscious, humans tilt when we are confused in conversation, very subtle tilt more like a shift really to let the person know wtf are you talking about without actually saying it. and when we hear a strange sound we tilt our head like that's going to help instead of just turning to the source of the sound, its basically just reflex. Kinda like how when you are driving and trying to locate an address at night you squint your eyes to "try and see better" knowing damn well it won't help.
I always figured they did it in part for the same reasons humans do it when something confuses them or catches them off guard.
That being -as far as I can tell- that it's an involuntary indication they are trying to mentally approach something from another angle, or are using a different part of their brain or vision related processing to process information.
But then there's always the chronically overlooked option of "It's all of the above."
It gives another perspecctive to help understand.
That pic looked like my greyhound :-) Neither she (nor did any of our now passed on hounds) tilts her head. She just gives me big eyes and lets me know what she wants by looking at it and squeaking. It's usually human food, or dog snacks if none of our food looks interesting 😁
I once saw some wolves doing the same behaviour when performing road guard for the pack crossing a highway. The head tilts were directed to the Alfa. I think it is simply their body language to communicate that they are listening and awaiting a response/command. Both of my dogs will sit in front of the door and tilt their heads waiting for me to wave them permission to exit through the door to go outside. I never taught them that they just do it instinctively.