#15 - 🐶 Your Dog's Secret Superpower: Why You Can't Say No to Those Puppy Eyes

Devoted dog lovers can put up with almost anything from their canine companions:

• Dig a hole in the vegetable garden minutes after you've planted the lettuce.
• Roll in the nearest pile of muck, followed by a roll in the stream.
• Jump on the forbidden sofa as soon as your back is turned.
• Chase the neighbouring cats, including your own.
• Guard every bone as if starvation was imminent.
• Chew beyond repair the corner of your favourite carpet.
• Bark pointlessly at passing strangers.
• Polish off every scrap of food from any dish anywhere
• Vomit on the dining room floor as guests are arriving.
• Develop sudden deafness when asked to desist from any of the above.

Finally when the truant sits gazing at you, with face so sad, eyes so haunting, you are powerless and all misdemeanours are forgiven. Not necessarily totally forgotten, but certainly forgiven!

How do they do it?  The answer according to scientist Ed Yong in his book An Immense World is interesting and unique to dogs. It's a facial muscle that allows the inner eyebrows to raise, and consequently end up with this soulful look. 

Although wolves are the origin of our dogs, they don't possess this particular muscle.  Theory is that years of domestication have given,  inadvertently, a reshaping so that they resemble us more closely.  

What next?  Well maybe in further generations, they'll have more audible speech.  Many of them are already on the way!  What do you reckon?