What are you looking at me for?

Anyone who has a dog has surely caught it staring at them. Why do they do it? Why do dogs stare at us with stubborn obstinacy? One of the main reasons why dogs stare at us is to look for signals as to how they should behave and what they should do. Being largely dependent on humans for their basic needs such as food, socialisation, care and shelter, dogs look to us as guides to understand when these needs will be met. Furthermore, staring is seen as an intimate gesture in humans, used to gain attention and communicate during conversations. Dogs may have inherited or learnt this behaviour, recognising that our faces are a valuable source of information. Essentially, when a dog stares at its owner, it is probably trying to decipher his/her emotional state, anticipate his/her actions or simply interact in a way that it has learnt is meaningful to humans.

This behaviour is related to something deeper: studies have shown that dogs' ability to interpret our feelings and desires is so finely tuned that they are able to distinguish emotional from neutral facial expressions and happy from angry faces, even if they are only shown pictures of faces. Human beings use gazing at each other as an intimate gesture, something you do with people you are familiar with. It is also used for communication: you attract someone's attention by looking at them and hold their gaze when you talk to them. Humans find this gesture very attractive and, over time, have selected dogs that look them in the face, or dogs have selected themselves in some way. This indicates that they are interested in human beings and understand them. At least, they seek information from humans and know that their faces are the source of much of this information. So, the next time you see your dog staring intently at you, chances are it is just trying to figure out what we are doing and how to be part of it.