Canine experts debunked the myth of dogs "taking revenge" on their owners.

      Many pet owners are convinced that a dog can "take revenge" — for example, soil the carpet or ruin belongings after being scolded. However, as Vladimir Golubev, president of the RKF, said, this is nothing more than a misconception.

      "A dog is undoubtedly an intelligent and clever creature. But it does not possess abstract thinking and it does not know how to take revenge. A pet is incapable of working out complex schemes and associations. If it seems that some action is connected to a plan of retribution, that's merely a coincidence. Most often a dog reacts that way out of fear or a lack of attention," the expert explained.

      According to canine experts, the myth of "dog revenge" arose from people's tendency to anthropomorphize animals. Owners often project familiar behavioral patterns from human society onto their relationships with pets. If a person can take revenge for an offense, a dog's actions are perceived by analogy. In reality, the animal is guided only by emotions and basic reactions.

      The canine experts also debunked another popular misconception — that a dog "apologizes" to its owner. A guilty look with flattened ears and a tucked tail does not at all indicate an awareness of guilt. It is an appeasement signal: the pet is showing that it does not want conflict and is afraid of upsetting the person.

      Experts remind that any punishment applied "after the fact" is ineffective. If an owner scolds a dog for a misdeed committed an hour earlier, it will not understand what exactly it did wrong. Behavior should be corrected only at the moment of the infraction, and without shouting or physical punishment. A firm command like "No!" or "Don't!" is sufficient.

      The federation emphasized that if an owner thinks the pet is "taking revenge," it means only one thing — the animal is frightened or stressed. The owner's task is to learn to correctly read the signals and stop attributing human qualities to the dog.