Scientists have revealed the secret: how to get your dog to obey the first time around

However, a recent study by Austrian experts sheds light on exactly how to point a pet in the right direction. It turns out that simultaneously looking at an object and pointing gestures make dogs remember and follow commands better.

Experiment with trackers on the head

Scientists from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna fitted 20 dogs with special head-mounted devices that track eye movements. The dogs, ranging from mestizos to Staffordshire terriers, Australian shepherds and poodles, were presented with several scenarios:

1. Gesture and eye contact with the dog: the scientist pointed to the bowl while looking at the pet rather than the bowl.
2. Gesture and gaze at the bowl: this time the scientist pointed to the bowl and looked at it.
3. Gazeonly: the scientist looked at the bowl, but did not gesture.
4. Pretend throwing: imitation of a classic prank, when a person pretends to throw a ball, but actually leaves it in his hand.

Two bowls were placed on the floor in front of the dog, with a treat hidden in one of them. The essence of the test was to understand when the animal better understands where to go.

The main finding: pointing and looking at the same time

According to the main author of the study, Christoph Voelter (Christoph Voelter), the most effective was a combination of pointing gesture and looking at the object itself. When the scientist both pointed and looked at the bowl of treats, the dogs followed the correct direction almost without error.

At the same time, the "joke" of throwing the ball confused the dogs the most: such deception caused them the worst results when it came to finding the hidden reward.

Do dogs understand our "intent"?

The researchers suggest that dogs don't just run to a gesture, but perceive "referential communication " - that is, they actually recognise that a person is pointing to something specific (e.g. "treat over there") rather than just pointing away. However, the scientists emphasise that it's too early to say definitively whether pets are grasping meaning or simply responding to a set of signs.

"The question is, do they perceive it as a direct command or as a communicative signal? We have yet to figure this out," explains Völter.

Value for "natural pedagogy"

The results are published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences and could expand knowledge of how dogs learn through human signals. Typically, such "natural pedagogy" studies involve children, where a child is pointed at an object while saying its name to help learn language and concepts.

The next step, the scientists say, is to find out whether dogs memorise commands better when humans address them in a directed manner, using eye contact and gestures. This approach could possibly improve training and communication between owner and pet.

Reference: Christoph J. Völter et al, "Using mobile eye tracking to study dogs' understanding of human referential communication", Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.2765