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IDEAS, DIYS & REALLY GOOD TIPS

Pets

DoYou Love Your Dog Too Much?

Just kidding! No such thing. But if you’re wondering why humans and dogs are so connected, read on for the science behind the bond.

BY JUNO D E MELO

They Have a Loving Gaze

Dogs are the only animals who make sustained eye contact with us. “When a human and a dog gaze at each other, their brains release a flood of oxytocin,” says Anne M. Burrows, PhD, professor of anatomy at Duquesne University, who studies facial expressions in animals. Oxytocin, a.k.a. the love hormone, is also responsible for facilitating the attachment between parents and infants. Now it makes sense why we call our dogs our fur babies!

They’re Expressive

While chimps can make 14 facial expressions, domesticated dogs can make more than 20. In fact, their facial muscles evolved specifically to communicate with humans, according to a study in the journal PNAS. They can raise their inner eyebrows—something wolves can’t do—which causes their eyes to appear larger, making them seem both young and sad (hence the phrase “puppy dog eyes”). “Their facial expressions—resembling those of a helpless child—trigger an emotional response in us to care for them,” Burrows says.

They Can Understand Our Emotions

Just as we can read their faces, dogs can read ours. “Typically, when we make a positive facial expression, like smiling, dogs will respond positively. They may soften their ears, gently wag their tails, or hold their heads high,” Burrows says. They can also extract emotional information from our voices. Scientists at Macalester College found that dogs who were separated from their owners by a closed door responded more quickly when their owners yelled “Help!” and cried than when they called “Help!” and hummed “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

They Follow Our Lead

“We often take for granted that a quick point of our fingers can send dogs scampering in the direction of a lost ball or hidden morsel of food, but this ability is extremely specialized,” says Brian Hare, PhD, professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University and coauthor of The Genius of Dogs. “Even chimpanzees, one of our closest animal relatives, can’t read our gestures as well as dogs can.” Dogs are especially attuned to signals from their own human: According to research at the University of California, Berkeley, dogs are more likely to choose a container their owner points to than one a stranger points to.

They Like Nice Guys

In a 2020 study, trained agility dogs were more likely to accept food from a person they’d observed handing someone a clipboard than from a person they’d seen snatch a clipboard away. Rather than revealing any strong feelings about office supplies, this may indicate that dogs evaluate people’s character. “Our data tells us that in certain conditions, dogs show preference for humans who are helpers,” says lead study author Zachary Silver, a PhD candidate at Yale University. “That’s common in human babies, but we don’t know how widespread it is in the animal kingdom.”