A person is not just a friend to a dog, but also the leader of the pack, as well as the love of its entire canine (in the good sense of the word) life. And if the dog recognizes you as its owner, be prepared for an endless stream of attentions.
A dog is man's best friend. Even the most ardent cat lovers cannot dispute this. Dogs are fiercely loyal and incredibly noble. They will brighten up your loneliness and bring joyful bustle into your life. Needless to say, puppy owners consider their babies not so much as pets, but as full-fledged members of the family.
But can dogs love? The short answer is: YES, of course! Dogs express their feelings in a variety of ways. Some of them are clear and obvious. Other manifestations of affection are sometimes puzzling.
But this does not change the essence: dogs love us, even if they sometimes show their feelings in strange ways. Here are 10 signs that will help you know if your puppy is truly attached to you.
Keeps eye contact
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If you feel uncomfortable or unsafe around someone, will you look into that person's eyes? No way! Prolonged eye contact is something intimate, reserved for those we love and trust.
The same can be said about dogs. Eye contact doesn't just help during training. It is also incredibly important to create a deep and lasting bond with your pet. When a dog looks into your eyes, its brain releases oxytocin, the same “love hormone” that enters the bloodstream of mothers when they hold their baby for the first time.
Make eye contact during playtime or when your dog comes to pet you. But you shouldn’t deliberately force the dog to look you in the eye. It won't do any good.
Your dog regularly asks you to play
Playtime is an important part of your puppy's day. When you are their best friend, you are also their favorite playmate. The game has nothing to do with your dog's basic survival, and if they regularly ask you to grab the other end of the tug, you know they love you more than your ability to fill their food bowl.
Different dogs like different types of games, and when your puppy loves you, he will let you know how much fun they want to have. Sometimes your job is to throw a ball a thousand times in a row, while other dogs enjoy games like fetching or chasing.
Carrying your shoes and dirty socks everywhere
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Dogs that are attached to their owner also adore his smell. And most often, shoes suffer because of this. Although the object for “attack” may well be a basket with dirty laundry. So don’t be surprised (and don’t scold your pet too much) if you return home to find an exhibition of your dirty T-shirts and “fragrant” socks in your apartment.
Stealing shoes and clothes is not the most pleasant way to know that your dog loves you. Especially if the dog not only steals things, but also tries to chew them. To avoid this, give your pet a toy that will remind him of you in your absence. It could be a simple rubber ball or a tasty bone from a pet store.
How does a dog express love for its owner?
Agree, the statement that a dog is man’s best friend is confirmed by many facts. Owners of four-legged animals have no doubt that dogs love them, but some alarming signs can make the owner doubt a seemingly indisputable fact.
The attitude of a dog from its owner is a complex science that cannot be comprehended from the outside. Most owners cannot explain why they are confident in the love of their animal. The reason is that the pet's relationship is felt intuitively.
If you have any doubts, you need to clarify the underlying factors. Dogs are not bad, mean, or insidious; they do not act out of spite and never intentionally harm the owner. A dog is, if you like, your reflection, the result of your attitude towards your pet in “symbiosis” with upbringing.
Many years of work by zoologists, animal psychologists, veterinarians and other specialists have confirmed the fact that a dog always strives to be good for its owner. If there are any “irregularities” in the relationship with your ward, work should begin by identifying the cause of the problems that have arisen and eliminating them.
Recent research has shown that there are certain signs that indicate that a dog has positive feelings towards one of the family members or the owner. A very clear sign that the dog loves you and considers you the head of the family is the expectation of punishment after an offense . Scientists have found that most animals do not take into account the fact that the past exists.
According to research, dogs do not feel guilty. Having committed an ugly act, a pet can expect punishment only if it knows that you will be upset and is upset by this fact.
If a dog has committed an offense and remembers it, it puts effort into this process, which is motivated by tender feelings for the owner. You probably want to ask, why does the dog do mischief if he loves me? Go back a few paragraphs above - dogs never do anything out of spite, if your pet has committed an offense there is a reason for this and it needs to be discovered.
Dogs often show jealousy . If you got another pet and stopped paying attention to your older ward, he may begin to do not entirely pleasant things. At best, your slippers will suffer; at worst, the younger pet will receive a slap in the face from the older one.
In one of the veterinary journals, an article was published substantiating the fact of the presence of feelings of jealousy in dogs. The scientists who conducted the observations found that dogs exhibited envious and jealous behavior when their owners showed attention to other animals, whether familiar or unfamiliar.
The study involved not only a visual assessment of the dog’s condition, but also a study of its brain activity. The testimony confirmed the scientists' guess. The oscillations in brain waves that occur when a dog becomes jealous of its owner for another animal put the “test subject” in a state of severe stress.
You can be sure that the dog loves and trusts you if you have at least once noticed his attempts to imitate your behavior . If your pet tries to help you take out the trash, wash the floor, shake out the rug lying near the door, this is imitation. All pets tend to acquire life experience, but copying someone else's behavior can be called unnatural.
To confirm the theory of imitation of the owner's behavior, an interesting experiment was conducted. The study involved 100 dogs and their owners. The four-legged animals were kept aside, allowing them to observe the situation as their owners turned to other people for help. In response to the request, the owners either received help or were rudely ignored.
The next stage of the experiment was that people who refused to help the dog owner tried to come into contact with the four-legged dog. The vast majority of dogs ignored treats and other stimuli from strangers who rejected their owners. In the second stage of the experiment, the dogs watched their owners argue with the same subjects. After observation, more than half of the four-legged animals showed aggression towards strangers.
Does your dog recognize your face? If yes, then you can be sure she loves you . Oddly enough, dogs have a poor memory for faces. Quadrupeds recognize friends by smell, less often by visual appearance (silhouette, gait) and behavior. If your pet is happy and excited when he sees you in the window or, for example, on a monitor screen, this indicates increased attention from the dog to you.
To confirm this theory, an experiment was also conducted, which took more time and required more serious technologies studying the functioning of the brain. The experiment was carried out using the well-known Skype program. The dogs were shown their owners via video chat while readings of their brain function were recorded.
It was found that when dogs saw the face of their owner, certain areas of the brain responsible for visual and olfactory memory were activated. Based on this experiment, scientists made the assumption that when a dog sees the owner's face on the monitor, it smells (remembers) his smell, but this hypothesis has not been proven.
Finally, it is worth talking about the experiment conducted by the Japanese. Many years of debate about whether dogs love their owners have been resolved once and for all. Although modern science rejects the very fact that a dog can experience unconditional love for a person, an experiment showed the opposite.
For this study, a control group of people who were in love and separated from their other halves was selected. The second group consisted of dogs and their owners who were briefly separated.
Control observations were carried out at the moment when the participants of the first and second groups met their “halves”. It is known that human love is accompanied by a constant, pleasant, “tickling” feeling... which is the result of a massive release of endorphins into the blood. Data recorded by scientists showed that dogs experience a similar release of endorphins when they meet their owner.
Constantly seeks physical contact with you
You may have read somewhere that dogs don't like being hugged very much. Indeed, one study proves this. But it’s worth mentioning that this study is based on the observations of just one person and is unlikely to have any serious scientific value, as it immediately loses its significance.
But even if some dogs aren't crazy about cuddling, physical contact is still incredibly important to them. Don't be too overzealous when squeezing your dog in a tight hug. Instead, you can pet or ruffle your pet's fur, scratch him, or lightly pat him on the back. You can find a lot of options on how to show your love in a way that is pleasant for both you and the dog.
Your dog loves to steal your clothes and shoes
No one really wants their dog chewing shoes or running around the house with stolen underwear in its mouth. But on the other hand, regularly stealing things is usually a sign that your dog loves you.
When you are your dog's favorite person, he loves everything about you, especially your smell. Your dog considers your scent almost a delicacy. It is a scent that makes them feel safe, happy and comfortable.
This is why so many of our furry friends love to steal our things. Sometimes they do this just because they are bored and feel bad, but they also do it when they want to feel closer to the person they love.
So when you catch your dog ruining yet another pair of socks, don't stay angry for long. Essentially, she is showing you how much you mean to her.
Dogs exhibit social behavior
Dogs are essentially the prototypes of wolves. Wolves are undoubtedly very social creatures that live in family groups. Similar to them, our dogs also behave socially. When you play an important and decisive role in a dog's life, it becomes obvious to him that you are the “leader of the pack.” You are the most important person in her life, and she strives for you for guidance, approval, communication and love.
The dog senses your emotional state and takes care of you
Have you noticed that when you feel sad or physically ill, your dog tends to crawl into your lap? Large breed animals may simply lay their heads on your lap.
Richardson explains this behavior by saying that most dogs are very sensitive to their owners' emotions and will often react if they feel something is wrong. Dogs are naturally endowed with the amazing ability to sense that you are sad or that you are struggling with some kind of illness. They will find a way to snuggle up to you or just be there for you when you're having a particularly hard time.
The dog gets excited when you lie down
Does your dog get nervous when you take a nap or play dead? If this is indeed the case, then she is simply showing how much she cares about you.
Szydlowski says some dogs will lick their owner's face and head if they think the owner is unconscious. Because this type of behavior from your four-legged friend can make any rest difficult, Szydlowski recommends keeping these pets outside the bedroom door while you relax.
How does an animal treat its owner?
In most cases, a dog's behavior is interpreted by pack instincts. The leader of the pack for an animal is the one who is nearby in difficult moments during vaccinations or during the treatment process. The dog feels the reliable strength and influence of its leader.
Extraordinarily important episodes in the life of an animal among people are:
- complete satisfaction of natural needs - walking, feeding and playing;
- security;
- fair and strict behavior.
When the little puppy gets to its new owners, it doesn’t immediately understand what kind of person will become the leader. The choice of the main authority occurs no earlier than 5 months. But this depends not only on age, but also on the characteristics of the breed and mentality of the animal.
Note! As soon as you acquire a pet, you should not immediately engage in education in terms of training and teaching commands. It is necessary to give the pet time to get used to the new place and determine a leader for itself.
To become an authority figure for a dog, you need to satisfy his basic needs as much as possible. You need to constantly add food to his bowl, change his drinking water more often, and also remember to play regularly, while simultaneously teaching him new commands. There is no point in giving up strictness when raising a puppy. This will enhance a person’s influence and show who’s boss in the house.
The dog smiles
Yes, dogs really smile! A dog's smile can signal love and affection for its owner and makes the person smile too. In fact, research has shown that dogs use a variety of facial expressions in such cases, just as we do in relation to our loved ones, strangers, pleasant or unpleasant objects.
Confidential look
Dogs are one of the smartest animals. They communicate through gaze, movement of paws and tail. Over the years, people have learned to read these signs, and four-legged friends can read human emotions with the same ease.
Once a professor of cognitive neuroscience, Dr. Brian Hair, noted that when a dog looks into your eyes for a long time, it is as if he is hugging you with his gaze.
But under no circumstances should you look into the eyes of an unfamiliar dog, because for him this will be considered a challenge or a threat to attack. However, with your pet it's different.
Look into your dog's eyes with love and affection, he will understand everything.
A close look into the eyes indicates the animal's affection.
Dogs are quite adept at reading nonverbal cues such as eye contact. Rover veterinarian and medical consultant Rebecca Greenstein says prolonged staring by a dog indicates an attempt to bond.
Scientists have found that from puppyhood, dogs strive to establish eye contact with humans. This can be considered a marker of affection.
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Tail wagging.
The position of a dog's tail can tell a lot about his mood. A raised tail indicates alertness; squeezed between the legs - about fear. If the tail moves vigorously from side to side, this shows that the dog is very happy. This usually happens when the owner comes home and the dog meets and greets him. If you want to know more about what a dog is trying to tell you, read more about dog language.
Dogs rub their faces against the people they adore
Veterinarian and DogLab consultant Sarah Ochoa says many dogs show how much they love their owners by rubbing their faces against them. This is a fairly common way to show affection. Of course, if your dog is rubbing his muzzle against everything in his field of vision, then this may be a reason for a visit to the veterinary clinic to consult with your veterinarian about possible skin problems such as infections or mites.
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Your dog is resting on your legs
As social pack animals, dogs thrive in physical proximity. They enjoy sleeping with their humans at bedtime, and when they really feel attached to you, they seek intimacy whenever they can. Has your dog ever leaned on your legs when you reached out to pet him? This is a good sign that they love you.
In certain situations, dogs lean toward their favorite humans for comfort. Nervous or anxious dogs do this in stressful situations. But even confident dogs love to lean in when they're with their favorite people.
The dog licks your face
Dogs lick a person's face for several reasons, but in many cases it is a sign of love and affection. Puppies tend to lick people's faces even more than adult dogs. This behavior was preserved from cubs of wolves, who licked the faces of their mothers - this is how they gave a signal that they were hungry and needed to be fed. The dog may also lick you to show his submission. And of course, the dog can simply lick you goodbye when you leave. Dogs lick each other as a gesture of courtship and intimacy, so you can consider this behavior as signs of courtship from your dog.
