Can a dog “figure out” a bad person?

Some owners are convinced that their dogs are well versed in human nature and perfectly distinguish between “bad” and “good” people. But are dogs really good at understanding people and can accurately distinguish a bad person from a good one? And if so, how do they do it?

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Can dogs tell if a person is good or bad?

Trying to find the answer to this question, at the very beginning we are faced with a significant problem. How will we determine whether a particular person is good or bad? After all, each of us has his own criteria of “badness” and “goodness”, and the ideal, as you know, does not exist. In addition, “your enemy is someone’s best friend” – everything in this world is relative.

But even leaving aside subjectivity and taking as a basis the objective criteria of good and evil “in a vacuum”, we are unlikely to find evidence that dogs can determine whether a person is good or bad. How else to explain that dogs can live with very bad people and love them? 

Even Adolf Hitler was the owner of a faithful dog, and he is the embodiment of evil. And then what about the dogs that guarded, for example, Soviet or fascist concentration camps?

Why do dogs love some people and dislike others?

Probably, the answer to this question lies outside the plane of “good” and “evil”. Rather, dogs are guided by the behavior of a particular person in a particular situation, as well as the behavior of the owner.

Some dogs react aggressively or warily to people who behave unusually, and the dog may interpret their behavior as a threat. For example, drunk people cause bewilderment and fear in many dogs.

Also, dogs often do not like people who are nervous in their presence, talking loudly, making sudden and / or chaotic movements. Such behavior can be perceived by the dog as threatening, and therefore, cause an appropriate reaction.

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The dog also perfectly reads the signals of its owner, even unconscious by him and imperceptible to other people. And it is quite natural that if we do not like someone, then our dog will be wary of such a person, thereby further strengthening us in the opinion that we are dealing with a bad person.

Dogs are more sensitive to people’s non-verbal cues than we are. And even if you cannot understand what is so alarming for your dog, he most likely could report on every item that seems suspicious to him if he knew how to speak.

Is a dog’s dislike of a person always justified?

Sometimes a dog’s dislike for specific people is justified. For example, if the dog reads signals of a potential threat that you cannot see. But, alas, this is not always the case. Sometimes dogs do not like people who pose no danger to either you or the pet – simply because someone seemed “weird” to them.

That is why the best way out is during the socialization period to introduce the puppy to as many different people as possible in a wide variety of clothes, including, for example, children and older people who can move and talk differently. Such dogs behave towards most people, if not friendly, then at least neutral.