Puppy dogs eyes are real: here's how canines have evolved to use them

A new study has revealed that muscles around dogs' eyes have evolved to allow them to make expressions that particularly appeal to humans

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  A study suggests that over thousands of years of dog domestication, people preferred dogs that could pull off the ”puppy dog" eyes look. AP photo

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  Dogs were found to have evolved two new muscles: levator anguli oculi medialis (or LAOM) in the forehead and retractor anguli oculi lateralis (RAOL) near the side of the eye. AP Photo

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  Using those new muscles, dogs are able to raise their inner eyebrows which makes their eyes seem large and face more babyish. AFP

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  The dissections of six dogs – a chihuahua, a labrador, a bloodhound, a German shepherd, a Siberian husky and a mongrel – found they all had the LAOM muscle while dissection of four grey wolves (their closest relatives) found that they did not. AP photo

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  However the Siberian husky was missing the RAOL muscle. AFP

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  A separate study concluded that dogs who displayed this expression were more likely to get re-homed from a shelter. AFP

As it turns out, puppy dog eyes are a real thing. So the next time you’re around a dog and feel as though they might be trying to tell you something with their gaze, you're probably right.

New research has revealed that the muscles around dogs' eyes have evolved to allow them to make expressions that are particularly appealing to humans.

The study conducted by the University of Portsmouth’s Dog Cognition Centre found that, since being domesticated by humans, dogs have developed a new forehead muscle called levator anguli oculi medialis (or LAOM), as well as another muscle called retractor anguli oculi lateralis (RAOL) near the side of the eye.

These muscles are responsible for allowing dogs to raise their inner eyebrows, which makes their eyes seem larger and their face more babyish or even sad – creating that “puppy dog" eyes look.

This diagram provided by Tim Smith in June 2019 shows a comparison between dog and wolf facial muscles. Tim Smith via AP

In an interesting twist, dissections of six dogs – a chihuahua, a labrador, a bloodhound, a German shepherd, a Siberian husky and a mongrel – found they all had the LAOM muscle, while dissection of four grey wolves (their closest relatives) found that they did not. And only the Siberian husky was missing the RAOL muscle.

In a previous study, it was also discovered that the more dogs deployed the expression, the faster they were rehomed from shelters. "It makes the eye look larger, which is similar to human infants," professor Anne Burrows of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, who was one of the co-authors of the story, told AFP. "It triggers a nurturing response in people."