--- title: Report: Some Dogs Know When Humans Are Happy, Mad description: New research shows dogs can differentiate human facial expression canonical: https://time.com/3708391/dogs-mad/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-13T00:26:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:24:03.330Z article:section: Science og:title: New Research Shows Some Dogs Can Tell When You're Mad og:description: Silver lining: they can tell when you're happy too og:url: https://time.com/3708391/dogs-mad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69a39f37451c1986/69877f1b06f2c1b14a333f39/159955114.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5696 og:image:height: 3204 og:image:alt: Dogs og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Research Shows Some Dogs Can Tell When You're Mad twitter:description: Silver lining: they can tell when you're happy too twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69a39f37451c1986/69877f1b06f2c1b14a333f39/159955114.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New Research Shows Some Dogs Can Tell When You're Mad > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=08aa68de-dcf2-4bd0-bee9-45ccc40de577&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 13, 2015 12:26 AM UTC  Happy girl hugging dog on the beach Happy girl hugging dog on the beach Oliver Rossi—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 13, 2015 12:26 AM UTC Wonder no more if your dog knows that you’re mad he or she used your favorite slippers as a toilet; a new study shows Fido may have an idea of [how you feel](http://www.livescience.com/49788-dogs-happy-angry-human-faces.html). A group of researchers trained a group of 11 dogs to differentiate between angry and happy human faces. During the study, the dogs were shown either the upper or lower half of a person’s face in various emotional states, according to [Live Science](http://www.livescience.com/49788-dogs-happy-angry-human-faces.html). Then, to test the dogs, researchers showed them different images than the ones used in training, using either a different half of a face the dogs already saw or an altogether new person’s top or lower face. In the end, the researchers found that dogs rewarded for picking happy faces more quickly learned how to tell happy and angry faces apart than those rewarded for picking angry faces. That, according to the study’s [abstract](http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2814%2901693-5), “would be predicted if the dogs recognized an angry face as an aversive stimulus.” The researchers are confident that based on their results, and the results of other, less conclusive attempts, some dogs are able to differentiate between human expressions. “With our study, which was inspired by these previous attempts, we think we can now confidently conclude that at least some dogs can discriminate human facial expressions,” Corsin Müller, an animal-behavior researcher at Messerli Research Institute at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna and the author of the study, told Live Science. Müller’s study was published Thursday in the journal [_Current Biology_](http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2814%2901693-5). \[[_Live Science_](http://www.livescience.com/49788-dogs-happy-angry-human-faces.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3708391/dogs-mad/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3708391/dogs-mad/"},"headline":"New Research Shows Some Dogs Can Tell When You're Mad","datePublished":"2015-02-13T00:26:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:24:03.330Z","description":"Silver lining: they can tell when you're happy too","url":"https://time.com/3708391/dogs-mad/","keywords":["animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69a39f37451c1986/69877f1b06f2c1b14a333f39/159955114.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt69a39f37451c1986/69877f1b06f2c1b14a333f39/159955114.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dogs","caption":"Dogs","creditText":"Oliver Rossi—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3708391/dogs-mad/","name":"New Research Shows Some Dogs Can Tell When You're Mad"}}]}] ```