Experience matters: Dogs (Canis familiaris) infer physical properties of objects from movement clues.

Reasoning about physical properties of objects such as heaviness by observing others' actions toward them is important and useful for adapting to the environment. In this study, we asked whether domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) can use a human's action to infer a physical property of target objects. In Experiment 1, dogs watched an experimenter opening two differently loaded swinging doors with different corresponding degrees of effort, and then were allowed to open one of the doors.