# Why do pets stare? More specifically, why does my dog stare at my wife? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pets-stare-more-specifically-why-does-my-dog-stare-at-my-wife/685115 "2014-04-01T20:39:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Crazier\_Catlady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Crazier\_Catlady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazier_Catlady)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pets-stare-more-specifically-why-does-my-dog-stare-at-my-wife/685115/21 "2014-04-02T10:15:14Z")
One of my elderly cats knows exactly when he can expect the good stuff: canned food. He’ll lie dozing on my lap all day (if I let him) but at around four in the afternoon he’ll wake up, have a good stretch, jump off my lap an saunter towards the kitchen door from where he proceeds to stare at me. Yep, he does have me well trained. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pets-stare-more-specifically-why-does-my-dog-stare-at-my-wife/685115/22 "2014-04-02T10:43:34Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > What does “boots” mean? Is that a Brit? I’d like to know that too because I don’t think the intended meaning in that sentence is to throw up or throw her out. But yeah, he wants a cookie. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pets-stare-more-specifically-why-does-my-dog-stare-at-my-wife/685115/23 "2014-04-02T11:33:52Z")
One of our dogs will stare at me until I figure out why. Once I figure it out, she’s cool again. It might be that she wants a treat, it might be that her special toy is trapped under the china cabinet. If it’s because Timmy fell down the well, then Timmy’s screwed. I go by process of elimination and looking down the well is waaaay down the list. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pets-stare-more-specifically-why-does-my-dog-stare-at-my-wife/685115/24 "2014-04-02T17:01:49Z")
I did not go out first thing to do the critter stuff. Dawg came to the window where he would be right in front of me while I am on the computer. He did this once before because it was coming a flood and I did not know he was around. He just wanted in. I went out to see as it was not raining. He had food. He just wanted a scritch & apparently it was high time I came out to do that. My training continues on a daily basis. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pets-stare-more-specifically-why-does-my-dog-stare-at-my-wife/685115/25 "2014-04-02T17:08:11Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Sometimes (I) see him smelling a bush . . . There’s your answer. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pets-stare-more-specifically-why-does-my-dog-stare-at-my-wife/685115/26 "2014-04-03T02:00:07Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > What does “boots” mean? Is that a Brit? > [@elfkin477](#): > > I’d like to know that too because I don’t think the intended meaning in that sentence is to throw up or throw her out. > > But yeah, he wants a cookie. It was an incorrect auto-correct that I thought I had anti-corrected. “boof” (verb, intransitive) to make a soft vocalization intended to convey a request, need for attention, expression of curiosity, or greeting It’s that sound the dog makes when (s)he is not barking, whining, growling, or trying to talk ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pets-stare-more-specifically-why-does-my-dog-stare-at-my-wife/685115/27 "2014-04-03T02:18:11Z")
I haven’t seen this angle mentioned yet, and darn, I don’t remember where I saw it discussed. Scientific American, maybe? Humans have more exposed ‘whites of the eyes’ (I think the biological term is ‘sclera’) than other animals. If you want to see where a human is actually looking - as opposed to which way her/his head is turned - you or your dog or cat must actually look at that human’s eyes, and the whites will show which way the eyes are pointed. …as I recall the article saying. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pets-stare-more-specifically-why-does-my-dog-stare-at-my-wife/685115.md?page=1)