When is the most cute puppy?

An indisputable thing: Puppy is very cute. But when are they the cutest?

A new study shows that puppies are the most adorable for humans when they are around 6 to 8 weeks old. It was around the time they were weaned, and this led researchers to speculate that puppies became the cutest when they needed the most human attention.

' As soon as the mother dog is bored with the children and is about to kick them off the drive, they will have to find a way to survive on their own, and at the same time I find them the cutest '. Clive Wynne, lead author of the study, a professor of psychology and director of Arizona State University's Dog Science Center, said.

This new finding could help scientists better understand how dogs evolved to depend on human care.

'This man's affection for puppies at the time may have given dogs that were not domesticated in the past, and even wild dogs today have a competitive advantage [compared to other dogs. other species] in human adoption and care , 'the researcher wrote in the May issue of Anthrozoös.

Puppies are always very cute.(Photo: Shutterstock).

Extremely cute and cute

Dogs evolved from wolves, but these two types of animals in the genus of dogs have distinct differences, such as baby wolves will be cared for by their parents until they are two years old while puppies will be abandoned by their mothers after quitting. milk, ie between 6 and 11 weeks of age.

Because of being abandoned at a very young age, puppy mortality is very high without human care; According to some estimates, more than 80% of puppies will die in the first year of life without human care.

Previous studies have shown that humans find animals more adorable when they have 'baby-like characteristics' such as big eyes, round faces and small mouths. But those studies do not find out if there is a 'golden age' for loveliness.

In the new study, 51 students (very lucky) were invited to participate in the experiment: they were shown photographs of puppies of three breeds: Jack Russell, Cane Corso terrier and white shepherd dog in Different ages, from birth to 7 months, to assess how cute those dogs are.

The level of cuteness of puppies is lowest when they are born, peaking when they are 10 weeks old and then decreasing as they get older.

In the study, the Cane Corso breed was arguably the cutest when they were 6.3 weeks old, while the Jack Russell terrier was 7.7 weeks old, and the sheepdog was 8.3 weeks.

The researchers also noted that volunteers were not asked about their insights into these three breeds, which may have affected evaluations.

In addition, the study used only pictures of puppies, volunteers would probably give another assessment if they were to watch videos of puppies with particular movements. This will be done in the next study, Wynne said.

He also stressed that this study does not imply that we will stop loving dogs after they have passed 8 weeks of age. Wynne said: 'The 8-week-old is just the time when we are most attracted to them. But once they make us fall in love, we will love them for life.