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Canine behavioral studies have made numerous recent advancements, including a recent study that suggests, just like humans, your dog can understand the consequences of its actions and manifest body awareness.

Self-representation is an abstract concept that revolves around the idea that a person holds a certain image of self in their own mind. 

On a much simpler level, body awareness or the recognition of the relation between one's body and the environment seems to be a common concept in both man and dog, according to researchers.

Canine Self-Awareness

In a study published in the journal Scientific Reports on February 18, researchers suggest that man's best friend can recognize their relationship with their environment and distinguish the consequences of their actions. Dogs may have exhibited the simplest form of self-awareness.

With dog's close proximity with humans, researchers studied the concept of self-awareness and body image in a man's best friend. 

Peter Pongracz, co-author and researcher from the Eotvoz lorand University, Hungary, tells Inverse, "Self-awareness is a poorly investigated area in dog cognition." 

Researchers observed dogs placed in a small mat to see whether dogs can comprehend body awareness. According to Pongracz, body awareness is one's mental capacity to organize action by considering their own body's existence. 

He explains, "Our test put dogs into a situation where they could solve a task only if they remove themselves from a mat, otherwise by standing on the mat; they wouldn't be able to pick up a toy that was attached to the mat."

Out of 54 adult dog participants, 32 passed the initial screening. 

Researchers suggest that dogs in the study could determine their bodies as an obstacle in retrieving the object attached to the mat. Wherein canines swiftly got off the mat and delivered the objects to their owners on command.

Findings conclude that the dog's behavior, especially during the initial tests, shows the dog's body awareness capacity.

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What Does Canine Self-Awareness Mean for Us?

The research team explained that if dogs have the level of self-awareness displayed during the tests, they would have the mental capacity to recognize their actions and their consequences, separating external stimuli.

Whether all animals exhibit self-awareness is a hot topic for debate due to small researchers and few species being tested, Pongracz has a hypothesis.

He explains, "Based on our theory considering individual modules of self-representation as a form of adaptation to certain ecologically relevant problems. I would dare predict that any species with a complex nervous system and relatively large body mass moving in a complex environment should have the mental capacity for body awareness."

Researchers believe that their findings establish best practices for future scientific studies around self-representation or body awareness regarding other animals.

Overall, researchers propose innovative methods in figuring out how much animals perceive their relationship with others and their surroundings.

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