We all know that dogs are able to do many things that humans can’t even do. They can sniff out bombs, alert us to intruders before they break into our homes, and even detect certain illnesses.

However, one new study has just found that dogs are able to do something else that makes it clear that they’re even more amazing than anyone thought!

A study published in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews found that dogs can recognize when a human is a mean person.

“Dogs are known to consistently follow human pointing gestures,” the study stated. “In this study, we asked whether dogs ‘automatically’ do this or whether they flexibly adjust their behavior depending upon the reliability of the pointer, demonstrated in an immediately preceding event.”

In carrying out this study, researchers had dog owners act out a few different scenarios. In one of them, a volunteer helped someone struggling to open a jar, one where the volunteer was passive, and another where one flat out refused to help. When these scenarios ended, a volunteer gave the dog a treat.

Researchers concluded that dogs were just as likely to take the treat from the person who was passive as they were to take it from the person that helped their owner open the jar. However, they were more likely to accept the treat from the volunteer who was nice and offered to help their owner open the jar.

“These results suggest that not only dogs are highly skilled at understanding human pointing gestures, but also they make inferences about the reliability of a human who presents cues and consequently modify their behavior flexibly depending on the inference,” the study found.

This means that if your dog is staring you down as if they are judging you, they probably are doing just that!

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