Dogs recognise dogs visually
New research has found that dogs are able to differentiate their species from humans and other animals, no matter the breed, when faced with visuals alone.
More than 400 pure domestic dog breeds have been registered, representing the largest diversity among all animal species. The study aimed to find out if this diversity prevents dogs recognising their own species when given visual clues only.
The study, performed by Dr Dominique Autier-Dérian and colleagues of LEEC and France's National Veterinary School, was the first of its kind. They tested dogs' ability to put their species all in one category, despite their being huge variations in visual characteristics.
Nine pet dogs were shown images on a computer of faces from various dog breeds, including cross-breeds. These were mixed with faces of humans and over 40 other animal species, both domestic and wild.
Despite more than 144 pairs of pictures to select from, all nine dogs were able to group the images of dog breeds into the same category.
"The fact that dogs are able to recognise their own species visually, and that they have great olfactory discriminative capacities, insures that social behaviour and matching between different breeds is still potentially possible," explained the study's authors.
"Although humans have stretched the Canis familiaris species to its morphological limits, its biological entity has been preserved."
The study has been published in the online journal Animal Cognition.
The BSAVA has opened submissions for the BSAVA Clinical Research Abstracts 2026.
