Have you ever come from a long day of school or work and the first person to greet you is your loving dog. After being away from my dog for so long it got me wondering if she could recognize my face from a picture?

After doing some research on this topic much to my surprise I was not the only human being to ever think of this. Last March a study was published in the journal Animal Cognition about an experiment that had happened at the University of Helsinki in Finland. The main goal of this research was to see if domesticated dogs were able to recognize human faces from a computer screen. The study consisted of a variety of different breeds and upbringings of dogs (dogs that had an owner and dogs that grew up in a shelter).  In this study they used eye tracking technology to the study the eye movement of dogs when looking at strangers and their owners. This research found that dogs stared longer at familiar faces then they did at strange ones. This study like many others that have been done come up with the same conclusion. Yes, dogs can recognize the faces of their owners from photograph but only to a certain point. This study also turned up an interesting fact, dogs are more interested in the faces of other dogs then they are with human faces.

Another study was done in the Journal of Vision where 12 pure- breed beagles and 12 cats were given certain humans to work with everyday over the period of 6 months. After this period of time each animal was shown a picture of their handlers. The results were astonishing, the dogs recognized the faces of their humans they worked with 88.2% of the time while the cats only recognized their human friends 54.5% of the time.

In a recent study done by Beth Stickler this questions can be answered in two parts. Yes, your dog can recognize a picture of you but only if you look like you in the picture. For example, if the picture is from when you were a child or if you have a different hairstyle they may not be able to recognize who you are. This study also came to the conclusion that dogs are able to recognize other dogs and animals that they live with.

So if you are ever away from your dogs for a long time just know that they will not forget you.  In conclusion, dogs are very capable of identifying your face from a picture.