Dogs are one of our oldest friends. They have been with us for the last 30,000 years. Dogs are also our best friends and it is normal to show that the company of dogs can have a positive impact on our lives.
This begs the question: How well do dogs understand us? Can they see we’re sad? Scientists say it is possible. Let’s see what they have to say.
amazing achievement
Lonely and sad old woman with a retriever dog at home
It is not strange to say that dogs have long understood human emotions. What puzzles scientists is how to understand emotions through facial expressions.
Because there are many differences between the human brain and the dog brain, the dog brain has no sensitive areas for reading human faces. However, Hungarian researcher and neuroscientist Eotvös Lorand published a paper in the Journal of Neuroscience in 2020.[1]
His findings suggest that dogs can focus on human faces, recognize people and read emotions.
“But other physical signals also seem to be beneficial for them,” says Dr. Ester Borbala Farkas, a member of the research team.
the face experiment
sad dog lying on owner’s lap
To test how dogs react to human faces, Hungarian researchers placed dogs and humans in MRI tubes and showed them several photos of their faces.
They found that dogs have specific circuits in their brains that light up when they see images of other dogs, even though they don’t have a face detection area. This means that while they prefer photos of their own species over humans, they can still read and understand our faces to some extent.
This can be a bit confusing. How can dogs read human emotions if they don’t have the part of their brain that is sensitive to human faces?
The simplest explanation is that they don’t pay much attention to our faces. That doesn’t mean you can’t tell when they’re sad. They read human emotions through more signs and signals than just our faces.
A 2018 study by Natalie Albuquerque confirmed this. He and his team tested how the dogs responded to angry and displeased facial expressions from dogs and humans, along with warning sounds.
The results showed that the dogs responded better to negative human emotions and sounds, starting to lick their lips when they showed angry faces.[2]
An earlier study from 2015 reached the same conclusion. The only difference is that this study tested dogs’ reactions to happy human and dog faces.[3]
How dogs react to strangers
the dog looks at the person
Now that it has been proven that our canine friends can understand and read our emotions, one big question still remains. How do dogs react to strangers? Researchers Corsin Müller and Ludwig Huber from the Messerli Institute tested this hypothesis together with colleagues from the Clever Dog Laboratory.[3]
They showed 20 dogs the faces of happy and angry strangers. They found that although dogs can express emotions, happy faces are easier to understand. They concluded that this may be due to years of domestication.
What do dog owners think?
Sad boy sitting on the floor with his little dog
To see if people experience this in real life, let’s go to a Reddit thread where people are talking about this topic. One commenter said: My dog completely changes his attitude when he sees me yelling about drama. It looks like it. Second commenter: My dog gives me goosebumps all day. If I express even the slightest anger, hurt, or sadness, he responds immediately. It’s really something.
Finally someone said: “I have a 12 week old puppy and I am heartbroken that one of my neighbors died this weekend. I think he knew I was sad and did his best to cheer me up. If my crazy 12 week old puppy is doing this, it’s probably very instinctive!
So, if this little discussion is still unclear, it is clear that our dogs are and will always be with us when we are sad.
When I think about this topic, it seems like a lot of information and research has gone into understanding it. Results can sometimes vary, but the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
The simplest answer is usually the correct one. All studies show that dogs have some understanding of human emotions and use a variety of signs and signals to recognize them.
After all, dogs are our most loyal companions. For the last 30,000 years they have been with us, we have adapted and evolved to understand each other better. This is why dogs are more attuned to our emotions and behavior. It is because of this connection that we have our adorable furry friends. Because they are always with us and push us to become better people.
