Dog owners tend to feel a very close connection with their pets. The bond formed between dog and owner is close, and humans will look to their dogs for support and love when the going gets tough. Though, it may be deeper than we originally thought.
Recent studies show that dogs can ‘catch’ and share the emotions of their owners, and experience special hormonal releases in order to do so.
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It comes as no surprise that many dog owners feel a special bond with their pup.
Dogs are considered part of the family or cherished friends in the eyes of their owners. They may even feel an emotional connection with their beloved animals.
Thanks to recent studies and their findings, this may be more true than we previously thought.
Researchers have discovered that dogs can ‘catch’ human emotions.
They learned that dogs experience emotional cognition, a very simple form of empathy that involves watching their owner’s face for clues regarding how to react to situations. Emotional cognition is also displayed by children.
They also discovered that pet dogs experience the release of oxytocin, also known as the love hormone.
Pet dogs were compared to pack-living dogs and wolves.
Upon study, it was revealed that the release of oxytocin is specific to pet dogs and relates to their connection to their respective owners, while pack-living dogs and wolves didn’t produce the hormone at all, even if they had a bonded human they were with.
Of course, this emotional sharing goes beyond just joy.
While oxytocin is the love hormone, cortisol is the stress hormone, which researchers also studied the concentration of. When compared to their owners, dogs tend to share the same amount of cortisol release as them. It’s even been shown that they react in similar ways to humans when faced with expressions of sadness like a crying infant.
Dogs share a wide range of emotions that they can pick up from the humans around them.
They’re able to recognize six different emotions in a human’s facial expressions. Happiness, anger, fear, sadness, surprise, and disgust.
Not only that, but there’s evidence showing that this sharing of emotions could go both ways, from owner to dog and dog to owner.
Canine expressions of emotion aren’t as complex, but they’re bold, and can affect our own moods.
In an interview with National Geographic , evolutionary biologist at the University of Colorado Marc Bekodff said, “I do think we pick up their emotions, too. Sometimes it’s easier to pick up their fear and stress. However, happy dogs are also easy to read if they run up to you with their tails wagging and their ears are forward, not tucked back.”
So, for all dog owners out there, you and your dog are likely much closer than you think!
As Clive Wynne, director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University, put it, “The emotional connection between humans and dogs is the essence of the relationship. Dogs are amazingly social beings, so they are easily infected with our warmth and joy.”
h/t: Good News Network
