A study has found that dogs change their expression in direct response to human attention, i.e. producing far more expressions when they know that humans are watching them than when they are not.

One dog walker who was interviewed even said that he has noticed his dogs expressing true emotions such as ¡®I¡¯m scared¡¯ and fake ones like ¡®It wasn¡¯t me¡¯.

People previously thought that dog expressions were involuntary emotional displays rather than calculated attempts to communicate. The research, conducted by the University of Portsmouth, studied 24 dogs of various breeds, and the doctor who led the study believes the dog¡¯s expressions are a result of domestication.

Difficult words: i.e. (that is), involuntary (reflexive, automatic), attempt (a try).