Can Dogs Sense When You Are Upset?
Have you ever had a time when you were feeling sad, or a little down and your dog came to give you comforting licks or snuggles, and it felt like they just knew? Well, you are probably not the only one; when we are happy, dogs go off our facial expressions, which helps them know whether you are sad or happy.
Dogs are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. They can read our body language and tone of voice and pick up much more than we realize. There have even been times when people have speculated that their dog knows when their owner is pregnant, as they are a lot more gentle around them!
Also, it has been proven that your stress levels go down when you pet a dog. There are so many benefits to owning a dog. Though there are a lot of things that you’ll have to do some research like the price of the dog, if their aggressive, if their easily trained or even where the dog has come from. There a few different dog breeds that are very good with people, like Cavapoos, which are very gentle though fun at the same time, and can really help you in times of need. Cavapoo price can vary depending on the size and if they’ve been trained. There are lots of other dogs that you can connect with very easily.
Signs of Empathy From a Dog
Like any other personality trait, dogs will usually express their empathy in a few different ways. Here are the most common ways a dog will show empathy when they sense you are feeling upset.
Touching Their Owner
Some dogs will touch their owner to try to make them feel better. This could be anything from touching their nose to your leg to giving you full-on snuggles. Either way, getting snuggles from your puppy will always be a mood lift. There has even been a study done that showed when you pet a dog; your stress levels will lessen.
Giving Their Owner Space
Other times, dogs will get the hint that you need to be alone for a little while, and they will try to give you your own space until they feel you are ready for all of their love again.
Distraction Method
Other dogs will try to distract you from whatever is making you sad. An example is they could drop the ball or a toy in front of you to show you they want to play with you and try to bring your mood back up.
Therapy and Service Dogs
Both therapy and service dogs have made a huge difference in many people’s lives. Therapy dogs are usually used for support in places like hospitals or nursing homes or have even been brought to a school of young kids to help them learn to read. Therapy dogs are like volunteers who will go places to help people. Service dogs are a lot different; they go through training to help a specific person that has a disability, whether it is physical or mental. An example is when you see a blind person using a dog to help guide them down the street.
A group of scientists did a study with a few different breeds of dogs and played the non-verbal sounds we usually make when we feel different emotions, like happiness, excited, sad, anger, surprised and disgust. They would play with the sound and watch how the dog responded to each one. They noticed that with sadness and angry, they would usually turn their head to the left, and with happy and excited, they would turn their head to the right. But with surprise and disgust, they didn’t respond to them, as they were probably unfamiliar with them or didn’t understand them. They concluded that dogs usually turn their heads to the right when they hear positive sounds and to the left when they hear negative sounds.
Dogs and cats are among the few animals that can interpret our emotions to know our feelings. They can use their past experiences to gather information based on their environment and emotions. Your mind is a lot more powerful than you realize, and your dog can also tell when they are the reason you are feeling stressed or sad.
