No one ’s really certain why dogs tilt their head - except when it ’s used to exploit our emotions straight after they ’ve pooped on the carpet . accord to a survey byPsychology Today , it might be to do with vision .

Dogs are super emotionally intelligent . They have an acute ability to see our body language and pick up on our outspoken cues – even subtle modulation or specific row they affiliate with fun activities . As part of their eubstance - linguistic communication - read arsenal , they also constantly “ read ” our facial expression for information on our emotional body politic .

According to Stanley Coren , who conducted the sketch , dogs lean   their heads   so they can see our facial feature better , as their muzzle   block off out the humbled half of our faces . Along with our eye , the rima oris is an significant component of human emotional expression , particularly for dogs who pick up on whether our teeth are scupper or not .   If you put your fist in front of your nose , you may get a picture of what it ’s like with muzzle - vision ( perchance do n’t hear this in front of place colleagues ) .

Coren ’s resume   asked 582 mass to complete an on-line survey about their dogs . Of the respondents , 62 % pronounce their firedog on a regular basis tilted its   chief when   spoken to .

Crucially , only 52 % of the owners of   flatter - faced dogs ( such as   pugs and bulldogs ) said their hound tilted its   drumhead . On the other hand , 71 % of the owners of dogs with   orotund muzzles ( such as greyhounds ) report that their dogs often shift their heads when spoken to . The statistical gap between long - gag and short - muzzled detent led Coren to close   that head   tilting was at least in part due to their muzzle ’s impact on vision .

However , more than half   of straight - faced hot dog is still a fairly high-pitched symmetry . Coren suggested this is probably due to the positive response dog get when they shift their oral sex .

" Perhaps something to do with hearing plays a function , or perhaps the andiron are really just trying to look cute . Nonetheless , this discipline is a first whole step toward finding the answer , and at least we now have a mo of data to work with , "   Coren say in hisarticle . Or maybe the simplest answer is the good : perhaps it ’s just a sign of confusion .

[ H / T : psychological science Today ]