
Your dog may try to communicate that they're upset in ways that make them seem angry with you. It simply doesn't occur to your pooch to blame you for what's making them unhappy. While your dog might make associations between an object or a situation and the feelings they inspire - for example, a puppy might trip down steps and get hurt while carrying a toy and then associate the toy with something harmful - they don't actually think about it being the object's fault. Anger is too complex a feeling for dogs to truly experience however, dogs are capable of experiencing the more basic emotions that humans use anger to hide.ĭogs also don't assign blame in the way that humans do, says Cuteness. According to HealthyPsych, anger is what psychologists refer to as a secondary emotion, which is a human response to primary emotions like fear and sadness.

While dogs can indeed get upset by a situation, they don't get mad at someone in the same way that you do.

It turns out that the question of whether your dog is mad at you or not is the wrong question to ask. Here's what you need to know about dogs and anger, and how to tell if your dog is upset.

If you come home and your pooch doesn't greet you as usual or if the place looks like it's been hit by a tornado, you might think that your dog is mad at you for leaving.
