VIENNA, Austria: Scientists have been amazed by dogs displaying near-human levels of sophisticated awareness during controlled experiments.

According to newspaper The Age, a provocative new study has shown that canines can do something only humans were previously thought capable — decide whether to imitate a behavior based on the specific circumstances in which that behavior takes place.

The results of the experiment bear out what dog owners have been saying for years - that there is a lot more going on between your dog's furry ears than first thought.

Basically, the study, carried out at the University of Vienna, showed that dogs will independently change their behavior patterns in a standard situation if they believe they will benefit from doing so.

A wave of new research is showing that dogs, chimps, birds and many other animals long thought of as having little intellectual or emotional activity are much smarter than previously given credit for.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the study was inspired by research involving human infants. Fourteen-month-old babies will imitate adults turning on a light with their foreheads only if they see them doing it with empty hands. If an adult is clutching a blanket, infants will use their hands, presumably because they can reason that the adults resorted to using their forehead because they had no choice.

To see if dogs had similar capabilities, researcher Friederike Range reportedly trained a female Border Collie to push a wooden rod with her paw to get a treat.

A dog generally does not use its paws to do tasks, preferring to use its mouth. So the key question was whether dogs watching the collie would decide to imitate it, depending on the circumstances. Three groups of dogs were tested.

The first group did not watch the collie beforehand, with 85 per cent winning a treat by using their mouth - a dog's nature preference. The second group watched the collie use its paw while its mouth held a ball. 80 per cent of these dogs still used their mouths, presumably because they thought the collie had no choice.

However the third group watched the collie get a treat with its paw while its mouth was free. 83 per cent imitated her behavior exactly. According to the Tribune, this suggests there must be some good reason to act against their instincts and do it like the collie.

"The fact that the dogs imitate selectively, depending on the situation — that has not been shown before," study leader Friederike Range, of the University of Vienna, told the Age. "That's something completely new."

The results of the experiment stunned many qualified observers. "What's surprising and shocking about this is that we thought this sort of imitation was very sophisticated, something seen only in humans," Brian Hare, of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, told the Age.

"Once again, it ends up dogs are smarter than scientists thought. This suggests they can actually think about your intention."

Some think these results are proof that dogs posses a higher sense of awareness similar to that used by human beings.

"It really shows a higher level of consciousness," said the University of British Columbia's Stanley Coren, who studies how dogs think. "This takes a real degree of consciousness."