What is gaslighting?
Gas lighting is a form of manipulation and is commonly practiced by narcissists.
The perpetrator will make someone think or feel something and then place self-doubt or confusion in their mind as to if it even occurred.
This causes the receiver to question their own sanity sometimes as the gaslighter will often try to make them believe things that didn’t happen or that things did not occur the way they really did.
How do dogs gaslight?
Do you think your dog might be a manipulator? Let’s check out some of the ways dogs have been accused of gaslighting their humans
1. Did you really not feed the dog?
Did you really not feed the dog or are those puppy dog eyes simply trying to sway you into dishing another meal?
Have you ever fed your dog and found them begging another family member as if they were never fed? The questions and accusations start flying your way about your canine negligence, all the while your dog is having their third or maybe fourth meal of the day.
Why this happens: Most likely your dog is not gaslighting you but they just like food and will use any means necessary to get it. Does that make your dog a narcissist?!
2. Is he hurt or faking?
Have you ever seen a video of a dog that wants to stop walking so they will walk with a limp until they get their way? If you haven’t searched for it on YouTube or TikTok there are several out there.
In some instances, dogs will act one way with one owner and another with other family members. For instance, with a wife, the dog may easily bound up a flight of stairs, and for a husband, they may act as if they need to be carried.
Are these dogs gaslighting their owners? Probably not, in most cases the animal really does have some pain in their paw or foot and needs to stop walking. However, there have been cases of dogs pretending to be hurt, in which case yes your dog is most likely a complete gaslighter!
Dogs are intelligent creatures overall and do know how to get what they want, they can also be pretty lazy sometimes so if they can get their owners to do something like carry them everywhere they may have no problem playing up the helpless puppy role.
3. Did I do that?
If you have more than one dog in the home and an accident occurs you can believe they are not going to tell on themselves, while this isn’t exactly gas lighting dogs will always be willing to rat out their siblings.
Is your dog a gaslighter?
Most likely no.
All in all, in most cases dogs can never be narcissistic gaslighters, not because they aren’t intelligent enough but because they are just too decent of creatures in the majority of cases. They love you, probably more than you love them!
