New study shows dogs can help us when we have lost our keys

DOGS really are man’s best friend - and seem to understand when humans have lost something we need, a study suggests.

Researchers found evidence of what many pet lovers already believe - that dogs can be motivated by human interests and will try to help their masters.

Previously it has been suggested helpfulness was a uniquely human trait.

But the University of Portsmouth study found dogs showed similar behaviour to children in a series of experiments involving hidden objects.

Dogs are the oldest domesticated species, and their ability to communicate with humans is thought to have evolved as a result of breeding for hunting and retrieval skills.

Psychologists Patrizia Piotti and Juliane Kaminski tried to establish whether dogs are motivated only by selfishness of if the needs of a human could drive their actions.

They focused on dogs' natural "showing behaviour" - barking or moving the eyes - to draw humans' attention to something such as food.

A group of dogs watched Ms Piotti writing in a notepad before she left the room.

They were then shown two hiding places: one housing a dog toy, and one with either the notepad or an arbitrary object of no significance, a stapler.

When Ms Piotti came back in she pretended to search for the object, and in some cases she spoke to the dog asking questions such as "Where is it?" and "Where has it gone?".

Dogs indicated towards the toy more often than the other object, the study found.

But when the notepad was hidden, rather than the stapler, dogs persisted in their "showing behaviour" for longer – suggesting they were more concerned with getting the human’s attention when it was something they human had shown interest in.

Ms Piotti said the results suggested the the dogs may have been trying to be helpful.

She said: "Dogs have outstanding abilities when it comes to communicating with humans.