Emily Harper
October 25th, 2024
Whenever you gaze into your dog’s eyes, something amazing is happening beneath the surface. You and your partner both secrete oxytocin, sometimes called the “love hormone.” This hormonal reaction isn’t just a poet’s fancy - it has been observed in level-headed lab studies in which the things that arouse our oxytocin are shared eye contact or gentle touch, both of which simulate that magical state of bonding that occurs between human and dog when they look into each other’s eyes. Researchers at Azabu University in Japan even used dogs and wolves raised in the same environments to test this cycle and found that only dogs - not wolves - showed this positive hormonal loop with humans. All of which explains that with dogs, domestication cemented a bond that goes beyond mere survival and landed in the world of emotional connection and sheer companionship.
Every wag, nudge, and cuddle carries biological and emotional weight. Dogs are very responsive to subtle human cues, reacting not only to body language but also to facial expression and tone of voice. A group of dogs was trained to distinguish between happy faces and angry faces, and their reaction was similar to the way humans respond to each other, according to studies.
When your dog leans against your body, licks your hand, or brings you a ball, these aren’t meaningless acts; they’re offerings of trust and signs of building your relationship together. Brain scans have shown that when dogs smell the scent of their owners, the “reward” centers of their brains light up, just as human brains do when they see a loved one.
Love and attachment in dogs are not limited to humans. In multi-dog households or pack environments, strong bonds form between canine companions. There actually have been known cooperative behaviors that go beyond instinct, such as synchronized play or coordinated guarding, which are indications of social attachment rather than just pure instinct.
Dogs are also found to have lower cortisol levels in stress-challenge conditions after bonding with a close canine friend, including exposure to a stressor. These friendships are frequently a lot like sibling relationships, involving resting together, grooming, and play-based rituals that build trust over time.
The “sense of family” may have evolutionary roots. Dogs are pack animals, and when part of a human family, they form strong bonds with the humans they are around most. Functional MRI scans show that the scent of a familiar human activates the caudate nucleus in a dog’s brain (the same area that responds to rewards and pleasure). This pattern of neural activity indicates that dogs classify their humans as a secure and emotionally salient presence, rather than as a source of food or shelter.
Indeed, family dogs have been shown to get a measurable hit of oxytocin when interacting with the kids in their family. When your dog curls up beside you at night, or greets you with unbearable enthusiasm, it is tapping into the same neural systems as those that define attachment between parents and children.
There are clear signals, and then there are subtle ones. Following you around from room to room, maintaining long, steady eye contact, and even pressing its body against you or resting a paw gently onto your arm are all signs of a deep trust and bond.
And even shy or anxious dogs show their feelings by staying close around the house and looking to their people for attention. One of the most interesting examples is tail wagging: long thought to be a reflex, it has been associated with discrete emotional states, where “right-wagging” (from the dog's point of view) was associated with positive emotions at the sight of a familiar human. These micro-expressions make up a body language of love that is entirely dog-based.
Science has now confirmed what dog lovers have always known in their hearts: dogs ARE capable of feeling and expressing a form of love. It's not exactly human-style romantic love, but it's a combination of fidelity, security and deep companionship. They express their love by adjusting to our spirit, by rejoicing with us, and by simply sitting next to us in silence while we grieve. The ability to do so was, in evolutionary terms, crucial to their survival and flourishing in proximity to humans. Today, it’s still a living testament that love does not have to be spoken; that love is shared in silent gazes and sealed with the steady beat of paws at our feet.
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