Your bond with your dog is deeper than you think, at least, from Rex’s perspective. New research recently published in the UK demonstrates that your dog is directly affected by your stress levels.
In fact, Rex is so affected by your emotional state that it influences his moods, making him feel more pessimistic in an ambiguous context.
Core Findings from the Study
The study was a joint project by researchers from the University of Bristol, Cardiff University, and Medical Detection Dogs. It was published in Scientific Reports, which supports researchers in multiple disciplines, including natural sciences, medicine, and psychology.
Their theory that the scent of human stress affects dogs’ emotional state and decision-making, was borne out by the results, which suggest there is indeed a biological, scent-based link between stressed humans and their canine companions.
Scientific Context
Humans and dogs have lived and worked together in one context or another for approximately 12,000 years. That’s plenty of time for dogs to become experts in human emotions. This is important because dogs’ well-being depends on how a particular human feels at that exact moment. Is she going to toss food or shove Rex out the door? Is he going to rub Rex’s ears or give him the boot?
Out of necessity, they developed an innate talent for reading tone of voice, body language, and scent. In fact, given dogs’ sensitive noses, scent is a major indicator of emotion. So, when we’re feeling stressed and generating cortisol (the stress hormone), it’s no wonder that Rex also feels under the weather.
Study Methodology
Let’s look at how the study was carried out.
Stressing Humans
The first step was to get participating humans well and truly stressed. They did this by making their nightmares come true, namely giving a speech on the spot and solving difficult maths problems.
Their stress was compounded by the serious-looking researchers in the room. During the ordeal, participants provided breath samples and sweat samples from swatches of cloth under their arms.
Afterwards, participants were able to decompress from the stress by watching peaceful videos of forests and oceans.
Testing Dogs
There were 18 canine participants of varying breeds. The first step was to help them make good decisions in a bowl pattern test. One bowl consistently contained food and the other was always empty.
Dogs were ready when they chose the full bowl every time. Then researchers placed a third bowl between them. They wanted to see if being exposed to stress affected their decision-making. Some dogs were given a relaxed scent and they still consistently chose the full bowl. Basically, the relaxed scent had no effect on their decision-making.
The other dogs were given the stress samples and the results were interesting. They hesitated and then approached the centre bowl. It’s the hesitation (not shown by the relaxed dogs) that suggests stress makes dogs pessimistic.
Implications for Dog Owners
It’s not great, truth be told. There’s a degree of guilt involved, however, you can help your dogs by easing their stress and even turning their emotional state around.
Start by recognising that your dog shares your stress and treat them gently.
For example:
Don’t train on days when you and your dog are out of sorts. Your dog can’t make good decisions in this state of mind and you are likely to be easily frustrated. Go for a decompressing walk instead. It will help you both.
Fake it till you make it. Make a concerted effort to feel calm while interacting with your dog. Be positive about everything. Your dog sat down – oh wow, best dog ever! Your dog hand-targeted – yay, cleverest dog on the planet!
Rex will soon feel really good about life and here’s the great thing, so will you because it works both ways. It’s impossible to stay under a dark cloud when your dog is bouncing with sunshine. Try it.
Things to Remember
For 12,000 years, humans and dogs have been inextricably intertwined. It’s not out of sentiment, but rather has practical value. As Dr. Zoe Parr-Cortes (Bristol Veterinary School) says, dogs learn to read our emotions to better adapt and survive.
Dogs that were alert when humans were anxious could identify threats and respond appropriately by either making themselves scarce to avoid a bad temper or going on the offensive against a threat and protecting themselves, their humans, and their homes.
Those dogs were far more likely to succeed and carry on their lines than dogs who failed to recognise threats and take appropriate action.
Importantly, not all dogs are the same. Some dogs are more resilient than others, even if they’re the same breed. Responses to stress signals rely largely on life experiences and temperament. Even prenatal experiences play a role in your dog’s emotional makeup.
Your dog, however, is greater than the sum of her parts. And so are you. So when you’re gentle with your dog, it’s a reminder to treat yourself gently too.
