It's true! Your pet really can tell if someone is a bad person!

Attention all pet owners! We're sure that you've probably all suspected your furry friend is pretty observant... but now a new study has proven us right!

While it has long been known animals can sense human emotions, research published in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews has now shown that dogs are capable of recognising whether someone is a nice person.

More specifically, they can tell whether a person is untrustworthy or if they're being horrible to another human.

So how did they find this out?

Testing different scenarios, dog owners were asked to act out struggling to open a container before asking the researchers for help, all while their beloved pets watched.

In the first scenario, the researchers offered to help.

In the second, the researchers refused to help.

After both scenarios had played out, the researcher offered the pooch a treat - and, this is when it gets interesting...

In the first scenario, dogs would take a treat from the researchers.

But in the second scenario, where the researchers had been deliberately mean to the owners, the dogs were significantly more likely to shun their treat!

How interesting!

So the next time your dog doesn't seem so keen on someone, there could be a very good reason why.