What Is In A Dog’s Heart When He Sees His Owner

Dogs bring happiness to our lives and we also to theirs, as long as there is a bond of affection. The heart of a dog houses a place specially destined for humans, due to a series of evolutionary circumstances that have even been tested in the laboratory.

Human beings are neither so similar nor so different from other animal species. We made a fundamental qualitative leap with our brains, but we also conserved much of what we were as a species. Proof of this is the great friendship that we can establish with some animals, such as dogs.

What is in a dog’s heart is not that different from what is in a human’s, at least in some essential ways.

Science has been able to establish that the feeling of happiness in canines is very similar to that of humans. What varies are the means of expressing it and the intensity. They are more capable of being happy . In the heart of a dog are also all the ingredients of filial love. That is why they can establish such a special relationship with us humans.

A dog’s heart and oxytocin

A group of Animal Science and Biotechnology researchers from Azabu University (Japan) carried out a series of studies to understand the heart of a dog. It was found that, in them, the feelings also have a cerebral origin. The general conclusion was that the bond that dogs create with humans is similar to that that children create  with their parents.

One of the most interesting aspects, supported by an article in the journal Science , is the special bond that is created between dogs and humans through the gaze. Eye contact significantly favors the affective bond  between the two. It also causes in both a striking discharge of oxytocin, the so-called “love hormone.”

To check this, the researchers brought a group of 30 dogs into a room. There, their actions were closely monitored and the level of oxytocin was measured through the urine. In this way, they were able to verify that eye contact with their owners increased the level of this hormone  in their brains.

A similar experiment was carried out with wolves. They did not show an increase in oxytocin. Nor a particularly striking relationship in contact with humans, not even with their usual caretakers. It was also clear that the wolves avoided eye contact.

Dogs and humans

On the other hand, the neurologist Gregory Berns, professor at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, advanced another investigation that tells us about the heart of a dog. He is one of the few scientists who has managed to monitor the brains of dogs using MRI scans, without sedating them.

From the studies he conducted, he concluded that dogs see humans as part of their family. Like the Japanese, he found a very strong similarity between the love that dogs feel for humans and that that children feel for their parents.

The scanners made it possible to detect that the dogs have a reward reaction in their brain, each time they detect the scent of a human they love. It is like an explosion of happiness that is chemically reflected in their brains. It is not comparable to how they feel for other members of their species. In the heart of a dog there is a very special place for humans.

The leaps of happiness

Whoever has taken care of a dog knows that the emotional bond that is established is very strong and that it manifests itself in a very special way when the owner is absent for a few hours from home and then returns. The dog greets him as if they had not seen each other for years. They literally go crazy with happiness. But why does this happen?

Gregory Berns has explained that for dogs it is completely unnatural for one of the members of the pack to be absent. For them, these separations have something tragic, because they do not understand that it is temporary and that after that there will be a new meeting. They feel it as if it is final.

Therefore, when they see their owners again, everything returns to normal and that causes them a feeling of great happiness. Likewise, they pounce and lick their owner’s face, not only to express their affection, but to try to detect where they were and what they were doing. They also celebrate the fact of having someone to do an activity with, because when they are alone they get very bored. In the heart of a dog, the human being is the center of everything.