My dog knows me, like REALLY knows me…..if I so much as tap my house slippers with my toe, he runs to the door; it’s time to go out. If I walk toward the living room chair, he jumps up; it’s time to sit together. If I go upstairs in the evening, he goes to his bed; the day is done. If I walk toward the kitchen counter at exactly 7:00am, he goes to his eating area; it’s time for breakfast. The list goes on and on, and half the time I swear he knows what I’m going to do before I even do, because dogs are just that intuitive when it comes to reading our body language.
But, many dog owners wonder…..do dogs feel love for us? Or, are they just in it for the food and other needs we supply for their basic survival?
Do You Always Believe What You Read?
You’ll see many writings claiming that dogs don’t have the capability to feel love for their human counterparts. This theory was based on a study that measured dog owners’ behaviors, actions, and perceived relationship with their dog against their dog’s behaviors and reactions toward them during a test setting. Without going into too much detail, the study concluded that what we perceive as our dog showing love toward us, is in fact, just our dog mirroring the way we respond to them. Since dogs are so highly attuned to social cues, their behavior toward us is more likely the result of them reciprocating since that is the behavior greeted with positive reinforcement from us.
Hmmm….okay, but unless someone has found a talking dog and engaged him on the subject of the dog-human bond, I’m not buying it. Where exactly is the concrete evidence? Did they really believe they could conclude their study just based on that? And I wasn’t the only skeptic.
With a little help from science perhaps we can clear up this fallacious misconception.
The Proof Is In The Science!
Now for the real stuff! Dr. Berns, a neurosurgeon at Emory University, was inspired after his favorite dog Newton passed away, to begin a study into what dogs think, and whether or not they love us. Emory University scientists used dogs trained to lie still during MRI scans in order to study their brain responses when presented with both familiar and unfamiliar human and dog scents. The result was what most dog owners expected all along, that the scent of the dog’s owner sparked the most activity in what is known as the “reward center” of the brain. This part of the brain was focused on because it is known for associating with positive expectations.
The study concluded that the human relationship is incredibly important to a dog and they value social bonds just like we do. MRI scans were proof that a dog’s brain reacts in many of the same ways that a human’s brain does. During a talk at TEDxAtlanta Dr. Emory Berns had this to say:
“One of the things we found is that the rewards system activates when a dog smells a familiar human, even when the human isn’t there,” he says. “It shows that dogs have representations of our identities that persist when we are not there.”
“When people ask me if dogs miss us when we are gone, I have to say yes, because we find evidence that they are remembering their humans.”
The 12 canine study participants are as pictured below:
Thanks for the interesting post Carol. I’m amazed that they were able to train the dogs to lie still enough for an MRI!
It just goes to show that the human relationship is really important to dogs and their reactions proved this.
I love the pictures of the canine study participants, especially Tigger. Thanks again for the insightful information.
Hi Matt,
Yes, I was trying to imagine my own dog being trained to lie still during an MRI…..that would be a tough one! It is great to have the confirmation that dogs feel so strongly about their relationship with us. Tigger is shown wearing the ear muffs that they placed on the dogs while going through the MRI machine. They wore the ear muffs to eliminate the noise factor, as MRI’s are quite noisy. Thanks for commenting!
Thanks for this interesting post, Carol … It’s hard not to come to the conclusion ,
when hearing about the degree of activity measured in the ” reward center ” , and ,
just simply watching a dog’s reaction when their favorite human returns to
them after being away , that they don’t feel love. It just may not be quantified
in the same way we do obviously, verbally, but I think the evidence is clearly there in their
body language when they’re around the one or ones they love. Great pic of my friend
Bud and his dog Augie reading !
Hi Joe,
I agree, their body language says it all. Bud’s photo is priceless…..clearly a dog enjoying his human! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
I have always believed that dogs have the capacity to feel love. I don’t know if its the same emotion as humans feel but there is definitely something there.
Thanks for telling me about the science behind it. Now when someone asks me I can put some real evidence behind my claim.
Merceadez
Dogs absolutely definitely love people. They live for their owners and would die for them. There truly is no greater love than that!
I’m a real dog person and I have a little Shih Tzu named Candy. I was gone overseas for 5 months last year and she stayed with a close friend and another Shih Tzu dog. While I was gone so long my dog went into a state of deep depression because she was missing me so much. If she was just “in it for the food” she wouldn’t have cared I was gone, because my friend was feeding her and feeding her well.
Thanks for this great post.
Such a great story…just more proof of what us dog owners knew all along!
For me, it’s without question that dogs love their owners as I had dogs when I was growing up and you are really able to form a special bond with them.
When you get home after being out all day, who greets you like your dog does, they get so excited and they are so happy that you are back home.
So it’s obvious to me that they miss their owners and I have liked what you have written here that shows science proves it.
Yes, I agree! Most dog owners without a doubt feel their dogs love them. Sure is nice to have the science to back it up.