September 16, 2026, 11:23 am | Read time: 3 minutes

How to test if dogs recognize themselves in a mirror

To test if your dog can actually see itself in the mirror, one or two scentless colored dots are placed on a part of its body. These can only be seen by the dog in the mirror.

A common position for the dots is the forehead. When the dog sees itself in the mirror, it begins to react to the dots, trying to remove them. This is considered proof that it recognizes itself in the mirror and thus has self-awareness. If it tries to remove the spot directly from the mirror surface, it hasn’t associated the reflection with its own self.

Also interesting: These animals recognize themselves in the mirror

What the mirror test really says about dogs

Dogs regularly fail the mirror test. But does that mean they lack true “consciousness” and are therefore less intelligent?

Recognizing oneself in the mirror is often equated with self-reflective abilities. But that’s nonsense, says behavioral ecologist Alex Jordan. In 2023, he was part of a team at Osaka City University led by Masanori Kohda that showed cleaner wrasses also interact with their reflection.

Self-recognition is nothing special, according to Jordan. “Even bacteria distinguish between self and non-self,” the Swiss newspaper “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” quotes the biologist. Consciousness is not required for this. Instead, cognition, the complex mental activity, should be seen as a gradual development that varies among different species. Other scientists also advocate for this perspective.

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Is the mirror test meaningful for dogs?

Many cognitive scientists confirm that dogs do indeed have a self-image. They point out that the world of dogs functions more through smells or sounds. In scent tests, scientists observed that dogs can distinguish their own scent from that of other dogs.

For instance, Alexandra Horowitz from Barnard College found in various olfactory tests: “Dogs spend more time investigating the scent of other dogs than their own scent.” In the test, there was also the following setup: If the dog smells its own urine, it is not particularly interested. But if a marker, such as a few drops of another dog’s urine, is added to its own scent, it immediately sniffs longer. This is precisely why marking is such an important behavior for our dogs. ^{1 2}

More on the topic

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Why does the dog bark at its reflection?

Some dogs act wildly when they look in the mirror. Some pet owners report having to cover or remove mirrors because their dogs reacted so frightened or aggressively to their reflection. The reason is that dogs do not recognize themselves in the mirror and see a foreign fellow creature in the reflection. Most four-legged friends quickly learn that the reflection poses no threat and begin to ignore their mirror image.

Conclusion

The mirror test, which almost always yields negative results for dogs, does not provide insights into a dog’s intelligence or self-awareness, as this type of test may simply be unsuitable for dogs. They respond more to olfactory than visual stimuli.