I’ve always been a huge dog lover. I’m extremely emotional towards my two golden doodles and I’ve always assumed that they’re emotional in response, whether they are wagging their tails or cowering in the corner or completely ignoring me. I want to believe that they are perceptive to my feelings but of course, they are animals and they don’t exactly have the intelligence or sense of feelings that humans do. So, I had to ask the question: do my dogs love me back?
According to Psychology Today, my intuitions could be plausible. After studying the brains of dogs, researchers have come to discover “that dogs have all of the same brain structures that produce emotions in humans” (Which Emotions Do Dogs Have 3). Scientists have found that the brain in a dog releases the same chemicals that the human does to create emotions. Dogs have the same hormone Oxycontin as humans, which allows one to feel love and compassion.
One key difference though, is that humans feel these emotions more passionately than dogs. This article claims that the range of emotions that dogs feel is equivalent to that of a two and a half year old child. These emotions develop over time, although this occurs faster than it does in humans. Love might not come immediately from your pooch. Instead, they grow into the emotion like any human “learns to love” someone.
One emotion that dogs apparently cannot feel is guilt. Rather, they feel fear which is why they tend to cower when they experience this sensation. Therefore, rather than a dog feeling guilty for eating that birthday cake you left on your counter when you went out, they dog feels threatened by a punishment that might come.
The answer to the question imposed in the beginning of this blog is yes, it is possible for your dog to love you. If you have developed a consistent and loving relationship with your dog throughout the years, it is completely rational that they might feel the same way back.
Sources:
- Coren, Stanley. “Which Emotions Do Dogs Actually Experience?”Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist. Sussex Directories, Inc., 15 Mar. 2013. Web. 19 Sept. 2014. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201303/which-emotions-do-dogs-actually-experience>.
I found the part about dogs not feeling guilt very interesting. I have known some dog trainers, and many of them have training methods based on the fact that dogs do feel guilt. For example, if your dog pees in the house, how to make it feel bad for what it has done instead of outright punishing it. Because dogs apparently don’t feel guilt it is interesting to think how this method could possibly work.
Your blog post made me so happy because I have really been missing my dog lately. However, I have experienced my dog show the emotions you talked about in your post. When I left for school last year for my freshman year, my mom noted that my dog was very lethargic and not as peppy as he usually is on a daily basis. She claims, to this day, that he went through a depression because I was gone, as I was the last child to leave the nest. Similarly, when my brothers and I come home for the first time in months, my dog goes crazy, barking and whining in a high pitched tone, as he runs around the house. I almost feel as if he is yelling at me for being gone, but he is so happy that he follows me around for the rest of the day. I found this article on dog depression and the symptoms to look for if you think your dog is depressed.
Here is an awesome Buzzfeed list showing dogs reuniting with their owners who come back from war, this definitely shows true dog love.
Your blog post made me so happy because I have really been missing my dog lately. However, I have experienced my dog show the emotions you talked about in your post. When I left for school last year for my freshman year, my mom noted that my dog was very lethargic and not as peppy as he usually is on a daily basis. She claims, to this day, that he went through a depression because I was gone, as I was the last child to leave the nest. Similarly, when my brothers and I come home for the first time in months, my dog goes crazy, barking and whining in a high pitched tone, as he runs around the house. I almost feel as if he is yelling at me for being gone, but he is so happy that he follows me around for the rest of the day. I found this article on dog depression and the symptoms to look for if you think your dog is depressed.
Also, here is an awesome Buzzfeed list to cheer you up after my comment about depression. Enjoy!
This article made me so happy I don’t even know how to describe it. I am so happy someone asked and answered this question. This might even be the third post about my dog so clearly I love him so much. It feels really good to know he can love me back. I am curious to know if there are levels of affection in dogs as there are in humans. Can dogs differentiate between love and like?
This article made my day! I miss my dog so much and knowing that she may love me as much as I love her made me so happy. Dog’s don’t have the best memory, so whenever my dog does something bad, we try to catch her in the act and yell at her then and there, so she knows what she did was wrong. http://dogcare.dailypuppy.com/dogs-longterm-memory-2305.html This article told me a lot about how dogs can’t remember past or focus on the future, they’re solely focused on the present. I hope my dog doesn’t forget who I am when I come home!
As soon as I saw the picture of the dog I had to read the article. I am literally IN LOVE with my dog, so it’s only right that I believe that my dog loves me back. Of course humans are going to feel stronger emotional ties to their dogs than dogs are to humans, but it’s only normal to believe otherwise, especially if you’re like me. However, I do disagree with the whole “guilt” thing. I think dogs can feel guilty and do feel guilty. For example, I left a half uneaten taco in my room once and my dog decided to jump up on my bed and take it right off my desk. But, I caught her red-handed and, after scolding her, she slowly walked out of the room and gave me a guilty look. She definitely felt bad for what she had done. Of course I’m not a dog expert, but I do believe dogs can feel guilty about things, too.
I unfortunately don’t have a dog but I’m head over heels in love with my cousins pup! Me and my cousin lived together this past summer so I was with her dog every day for 3 months straight. It seems crazy how dogs are able to build such positive relationships with humans at any time of their life. My cousin told me that he’s been sleeping in my room every night and looking for me around the apartment since I’ve gotten to college. My favorite bud is curious as to where I went! Pretty much Mookies actions lead me to agree with your statement that dogs are capable of emotion.
My dogs absolutely love me. I cannot imagine it any other way. (Huge dog lover right here.) I have an English Bulldog and a French bulldog who I am obsessed with. Often times when I Skype with my family at home, they will point the camera at my dogs. When they hear my voice, their tails begin to wag and they jump up at the screen. This always makes me so happy and makes me feel like they really know my voice and who I am. In fact, there have been times I have been sad and my dogs will lay with me for hours. I truly feel our pets understand us and can sense our emotions. Here is an article talking about this subject further…http://news.sciencemag.org/brain-behavior/2014/02/how-dogs-know-what-youre-feeling
I have a bernese mountain dog and a great pyrenees, and I strongly believe that my dogs love me. I was always a little closer to my great pyrenees though. Since I’ve been away at school, my mom has informed me that my dog has seemingly become depressed. She hardly ever leaves my room, and doesn’t eat as much. Hearing this broke my heart, and although my observation is an anecdote, I still believe that my dog loves me. I also found it funny that dogs don’t know guilt! My dogs certainly don’t. Here’s more about dogs’ emotionshere