Scientists suspect that the two different communication signals – gazing and pointing – added up and thereby increase the likelihood of shifting the dogs’ attention.
The owners used five different approaches in the study, including just pointing, pointing and gazing, only gazing, fake throwing, and just communicating without any action.
In comparison, a method like fake throwing moved the dogs’ gaze towards an indicated direction, but it did not increase the frequency of gaze shifts to the precise object, scientists say.
Researchers from Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany tracked the gaze of the dogs as their owners tried to get them to pay attention to a hidden food reward using different cues.
The study also suggests that dogs may maintain longer attention on a referred object when owners both point and gaze at it “significantly above chance levels”.
