Does Your Dog Really Love You? Scientists Wanted to Know, and What They Found May Surprise You

[Judi Lynn]

Does Your Dog Really Love You? Scientists Wanted to Know, and What They Found May Surprise You



Lisa Bernier
2 months ago


Does your dog really love you?

It’s a question every pup parent has asked themselves at some point or another. Sure, it may seem like there’s proof, like when your pooch snuggles up next to you when you’re upset, or covers your face with doggy “kisses.” But how far removed are we, really, from the love dogs bear for the treat jar?

Recently in a 60 Minutes special about pups and their brains, Anderson Cooper did a candid “extras” interview in which he too questioned the validity of his pup’s affections for him. A professed dog ruver, while doing the special, he found himself asking his Welsh-Springer Spaniel, Molly, “Do you really love me? Or is it a trick? Are dogs the most parasitic pet around?”

Humans and dogs have one of the most complicated relationships probably in the history of the world. We let dogs into our homes, our lives: dogs are part of our families. But how much do dogs feel what we feel? And how much are we anthropomorphizing?

Writer Benoit Denizet-Lewis took a 4-month road trip just to investigate his relationship with his dog. He summed up the experience in his book, Travels With Casey. Similarly, Scientist Gregory Burns also asked himself the same question, and in order to answer, he took it a step further: he conducted an experiment to see how dogs really feel by scanning their brains in an MRI machine. The results were astonishing and prompted him to write a book as well, called How Dogs Love Us. As he writes:

“Proof of social cognition means that dogs aren’t just Pavlovian learning machines. It means that dogs are sentient beings, and this has startling consequences for the dog-human relationship.”

More:
http://barkpost.com/does-your-dog-love-you/?utm_source=outbrain

[Scuba]

1. This long-time dog owner knows his dogs love him, and vice versa.

[polly7]

2. Such a gorgeous picture.

I definitely believe our dogs love us. Just read the stories of dogs who've gone to their deceased owner's graves daily, or refused to leave. My current dog is more of an 'it's all about ME' kind of guy (I think he loves me, but he's only two and I've only had him for over a year from the humane society), but my Wolfie I finally had to get put down really did, in fact, save my life after I lost my Dad to suicide. I was alone, and he seemed to have a sixth sense when I'd break down and nearly let the horror take over, no matter where he was in the house he would come to lay his head on my lap and just look at me with those eyes. You just know they feel very deeply. Yes, they do love us.

[samsingh]

3. the results don't suprise me - that's what i expected

maybe 1% of the readers were surprised to learn that dogs do indeed love us.

[mopinko]

4. probably a better question is

do our humans really love us. that is a much stickier question.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

5. No shit, Sherlock!

I didn't need an investigation to tell anyone this! I love my dogs and my dogs love me. They are right there with my immediate family in terms of relationship.

[Chemisse]

6. “When dogs are looking at you, they’re ‘hugging you with their eyes.' "

I love this statement.

[BrotherIvan]

7. Especially the beautiful big dog in your sig line!