Anyone graced with owning a domesticated dog knows how truly devoted they are. You may arrive home after a long workday, not in the best mood. You suddenly feel much better when glancing down at your dog—wagging its tail, offering wet kisses, and jumping for joy at your arrival. Man’s best friend has a way of bringing out the best in us and has been doing so for a long time.
Dogs (Canis familiaris), were first domesticated by humans more than 30,000 years ago. Before that, wolves were domesticated by early man and assisted the first hunter-gatherers with hunting. Through thousands of years of breeding, these wolves became the domesticated dog we know today.
The innate capabilities of domesticated dogs
New research suggests that not only are dogs “man’s best friend” but they have evolved, making them capable of reading. No, not the written word. They can read your emotions. This capability appears to be innate after centuries of co-evolution with humans. Just as dog owners pay particular attention to how their dogs feel, dogs seem able to reciprocate. Many animals also seem to astutely sense the feelings of other member species.
Dogs also possess a range of simpler emotions compared to humans. They appear to feel joy, excitement, affection, loneliness, and separation anxiety, to name a few. They may also experience jealousy in certain situations.
Picking up on cues
Man’s best friend seems to pick up on our emotions through several cues, such as:
- Body Language: Dogs are experts at noticing changes in movement, posture, and facial expression, such as a furrowed brow—a signal that we are upset or anxious.
- Tone of Voice: Dogs are sensitive to this and can differentiate vocal cues. A soothing tone indicates to them that we are happy and calm, whereas a harsh tone indicates anger or frustration.
- Smell: Possessing a highly developed sense of smell, dogs can detect changes in our body odour, which they associate with fear or excitement.
- Empathy: Strange as it might seem, dogs are capable of empathy, similar to humans. Feeling sad, upset, or in pain may cause your dog to want to cuddle with you for comfort.
The evolution of the domesticated dog
This ability to read our emotions is rooted in dogs’ evolution and their shared kinship with humans. Man’s best friend possesses a similar brain structure, with associated processing abilities. Studies have found that dogs produce oxytocin, the hormone associated with bonding and social attachment.
Research has also revealed that domesticated dogs use the left side of their brain to interpret emotionally positive sounds and the right side to interpret emotionally negative sounds.
Other studies have indicated that dogs combine hearing and sight to distinguish happy and angry faces with happy and angry vocalizations. For example, when using their hearing, they can relate to the positive sound of laughing and the negative sound of crying, which may arouse a dog more.
We’ve now discerned that just as emotions are critical for humans in understanding their feelings and expressing themselves, man’s best friend relies on emotional perceptions to guide behaviour and actions to guarantee success in social surroundings.
Dogs are truly unique mammals. The domesticated dog is the only species diversified by shape, size, and the colour, length and texture of their coat. No matter the breed of dog that you are the proud owner of, they are special in our human world.