Any actuall science to this? I’ve heard it a million times but have yet to see any evidence.
Ask Hitler. Or Richard Nixon. Depends what you mean by “character” - dogs are certainly loyal to their owners, however this loyalty is blind to any moral flaws the owners may possess, short of actually beating the dog in question. This loyalty extends to anyone who crosses the dog’s path - since they’re essentially pack animals and take their cues from their owner, if the owner is well-disposed towards another person, the dog will accept them: if not, not. This isn’t determined by the person’s innate character or moral worth, simply by how the owner reacts to them. So the short answer is no.
absolutely, if you are talking about doggie morals (pat on heads, dog biscuits, walkies etc)
People of bad character sometimes abuse animals. I’ve know more than one dog to growl at someone for seemingly no reason, and when eventually it is revealed that this person is scum, it also comes out, that yes, he kicked the dog too when you weren’t looking. Unless you find out about the scum kicking the dog, then it looks like the dog is just a better judge of character that you were.
I might sound like a nut, but I think dogs can sense if someone is a little off. One of Harborwolf’s relatives spent some time in prison for child molestation several years ago. Obviously my dog doesn’t know this, but she won’t go near this man at family gatherings.
I heard a story once about a guy meeting a young lady’s family for the first time, and all were impressed at how fond the family’s dog was of the suitor. “Fido is SUCH a good judge of character,” they all said. “When he liked Benny, we knew he must be an o.k. person.” What they didn’t know was that Benny, before leaving his house, had noticed dirt on his shoes and wiped the shoes with a handy paper towel – which had previously been used to drain bacon. Fido, of course, LOVED the smell of bacon.
I agree with this.
My dog generally likes everybody but on a few rare occasions she has responded badly towards someone. When she does I go with that opinion.
This does not include people who are afraid of her (have a friend who is terrified of dogs…phobic from a dog attack when she was young and I have a big dog). My dog does not take advantage of that with her. But some other people she clearly is wary of. A bum approached me late one night while I was walking her. He hadn’t done anything but my dog immediately took her “don’t screw with me…I’m watching you” stance. The bum even noticed her clear signal and stayed 15 feet from me, asked for money and moved on. My dog took this position even before I saw the guy and reacted (so my dog could not have taken a clue from me). Other people walking down the street at night do not get that reaction from her (she is friendly although in good Shepherd fashion that is tempered by a slight wariness/aloofness till she actually meets someone).
As usual, the best way is to do a scientific study.
Although anecdotes are certainly interesting, they are not conclusive.
You may also wish to define your terms.
If a criminal has a well-treated dog, who growls at the police when they rightly try to arrest the dog’s master, is the dog showing ‘good character’?
Reminds me of the story “The Oracle of the Dog”, in which the strange behavior of the dog around the time of a murder was thought to portent it. In true, the dog’s behavior was the result of its owner attempt to assuage guilt in it.
Which reminds me of another thing, how often when someone’s neighbor is arrested, someone always says, “He can’t be guilty, he was always nice to me.”
If character can be judged by appearance and smell alone, then I hope the next time I meet someone new they do not take offense when I sniff their butts. :rolleyes: :dubious: 
But YOU know it, and that’s what matters. You may not even realize it, but the dog can probably tell from your body language that YOU think the guy is “a little off” and is reacting accordingly.
Dogs are extremely sensitive to body language. If someone is making you nervous, or even vaguely suspicious, your dog can tell, and will react with hostility or avoidance (depending on temperment.)
Accordingly, dogs can tell when a visitor to your home is acting in a strange manner, and thus may be aggressive towards them. You may not even be able to see it, but the dog can. Perhaps if the person in question is up to no good, they give off subtle signals the dog detects, giving people the impression that the dog is judging character.
With regard to Whack-a-Mole and the bum, the simplest explanation is that the bum smelled funny (for whatever reason: Alcohol, lack of hygiene, etc.), and the dog picked up on the funny human-smell and became wary just in case. This is especially plausible, given that the dog reacted before the bum came into sight. Now, did that funny smell genuinely indicate that the person was a danger? No way of knowing, of course. All we can infer is that the dog didn’t like the way the bum smelled.
This is very true. One famous example involves a study of how good drug-sniffing dogs really were. The dogs were unleashed on a series of identical containers, one of which hid the stash. Unfortunately, the study was not double-blind; the trainers knew which container hid the stash, and, however good-intentioned they were, they were subconsciously signalling the dogs as to which container was right.
When the study was repeated in a double-blind setting, the dogs did not do nearly as well.