system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:If I hurt my dog on accident, do they know it was unintentional?

I got out of bed and stepped on my dog's tail on accident. He yelped and I spent about three minutes petting him. Will he know that it was an accident and not intentional?
gpt
To answer your basic question: dogs do seem to sense when you hurt them on purpose vs by accident.

Note that when you accidentally step on their tails, they yip at first, but usually come right back to you with wagging tail.  Conversely, when you're angry with them and bat their nose or something for biting or whatever, you'll notice that they will lower themselves to the floor with their tails between their legs.

This says that they can generally tell your intention, however, if you're truly alpha dog (which you should be), then they won't be upset if you do it on purpose, but assume that they did something wrong and grovel.  If your dog isn't grovelling, they probably know it was an accident.