Dogs can distinguish between fearful and angry or sad human faces, brain scans suggest

The researchers worked with pet dogs, mostly border collies, that had been trained to lie still in an MRI scanner. Photograph: Laura V Cuaya

While dogs are known to turn the puppy eyes on their owners, it seems our pets are keeping a close eye on us too: research has revealed dog brains can distinguish different types of unhappy human faces.

Dr Laura Cuaya, a co-author of the study from the University of Vienna, said previous behavioural studies had shown dogs could tell apart some human facial expressions, but such studies tended to only test two at a time, one positive and one negative. As a result, it was not clear if dogs could distinguish different types of happy or unhappy faces.