Children may learn to identify dog aggression with age and experience – study

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Aggressive dog expressions were especially rated incorrectly by four-year-olds, and they rated aggressive dogs as significantly more positive and lower in arousal than adults Study authors Past research has suggested three to five-year-olds may be less able to recognise dogs’ emotions than older children and adults. While people without pet dog experience rated aggressive dog expressions as being more positive than participants with dog experience. The findings suggest that people’s ability to recognise dog emotions, especially aggression, may improve with age, which could arise from both more experience with dogs and maturation of certain brain structures. The authors of the study, published in Plos One, said: “Aggressive dog expressions were especially rated incorrectly by four-year-olds, and they rated aggressive dogs as significantly more positive and lower in arousal than adults.” Another study in the same journal found mixed-breeds, Labradors and Jack Russell terriers are the most common UK dog breeds.