There is a spectrum of emotional connection between people and their dogs, ranging from being able to detect and understand each other’s feelings to actually sharing the same emotions. That’s an especially noteworthy phenomenon right now, as people and their canine companions continue to spend more time together during the pandemic. Recent research also shows that the extent to which people and their pups catch their owner’s emotions depends on the duration of their relationship. In the last few years, multiple studies have shown that the transmission of emotions depends on the release of certain hormones (such as oxytocin), body odour changes in humans, the firing of key neurones in the pooches and their people, and other physiological factors. This interspecies emotional contagion, as psychologists call it, has a psychological, a physiological, and a behavioural basis. “Dogs are amazingly social beings, so they are easily infected with our warmth and joy.” But the converse is true as well, which means their owner’s stress and anxiety can also become the dog’s stress and anxiety. “The emotional connection between humans and dogs is the essence of the relationship,” says Clive Wynne, a professor of psychology and director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University. When their people project feelings of calm and confidence, dogs tend to view their surroundings as safe and secure.
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Just as human toddlers look to their parents for cues about how to react to the people and world around them, dogs often look to humans for similar signs. New studies show how behavioural and chemical cues from humans can affect dogs in ways that enable them to not only discriminate between their owners’ fear, excitement, or anger, but also to “catch” these feelings from their human companions. This isn’t a figment of their imaginations. Dog-owners often feel that their pooches are good at picking up on their emotions.
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