Moreover, a contagious form of canine cancer could shed light into how forms of cancer found in humans have come to develop.
Also, researchers at the University of Harvard in Cambridge, MA, suggest that dog owners have a lower risk of heart disease.
The results were based on studying a cohort of 41,514 participants from California, some of whom owned dogs, some of whom owned cats, and some of whom did not have any pets.
Author Dean Koontz summarized this perfectly in his memoir of his own much-loved dog:
It is likely that humans and dogs have shared a special bond of friendship and mutual support ever since at least the Neolithic period — but why has this bond been so long-lasting?
A study on dogs’ love for humans
I recently rediscovered a research report that had been published in the Journal of Comparative Psychology by a research team headed by Michael Hennessey of Wright State University, along with some scientists from Ohio State University (David Tuber, Suzanne Sanders, and Julia Miller). This study shows just how domesticated our pet dogs have become and how their orientation seems to have shifted more towards humans than to other dogs.
The animals involved in this research were eight mixed breed dogs who were 7 to 9 years of age. They had been living as littermate pairs in kennels since they were eight weeks old. All these dogs had been fully socialized when they were young and were quite comfortable around people. They were being looked after by one caretaker who, at least as far as the dogs were concerned, was their owner. The important factor for us is that when the experiment began these kennel mates had not been separated from each other (even for a few minutes) over the previous two years and had seldom been apart during their entire lifetimes.
To test their attachment to each other, one member of each pair was removed from the kennel for four hours and the remaining animal was observed. If you take a puppy away from its littermates, it will usually whimper and act distressed until it is reunited with its littermates; however, these adult dogs, when left alone in their kennel, did not show any evidence of anxiety. They rarely barked or paced, and the level of the stress hormone, cortisol, in their blood didnt change as a result of their separation from their kennel mate. This was true as long as the remaining dog was left in its familiar pen.
The situation was quite different when the dogs were placed alone in an unfamiliar kennel. Now they clearly showed signs of unease and apprehension. They became agitated and their stress hormone level went up by more than 50 percent. The most important finding is that this increase in anxiety happened whether the dog was alone or if it had been moved to an unfamiliar place in the company of its kennel mate. In this unfamiliar place, the dogs did not interact very much and did not seem to draw comfort from the presence of their usual partner as shown by the level of stress hormone in their blood.
The situation was quite different, however, when their human caretaker sat quietly with each dog in this new and strange situation. Under these circumstances, the dog would stay close to the human and would try to get him to interact and make contact. In response to this comfort-seeking behavior, the caretaker would briefly stroke the dog. This interaction with a human seemed to be enough to reduce the dogs level of anxiety almost completely. This was verified by the fact that the stress hormone level remained very close to normal in the presence of the person.
The conclusion that one can draw from this is that these dogs were behaving as if they had a stronger bond with their human caretaker than with their brother or sister, despite the fact that they had been in the company of that dog for all of their lives. This was true even though these dogs have not led the same kind of living experience as a pet dog has, and therefore have not had continued intimate contact that pet dogs have with their human owners.
Data suggests that we have bred dogs to love people.
Our domestic dogs are not wolves, and some interesting evidence about the difference between dogs and wolves comes from the way that they form attachments with other living beings.
It may well be the case that we have selectively bred dogs to love humans more than they love animals of their own species. I use the word “love,” even though psychologists and behavioral biologists tend to shy away from the word and prefer terms like “attachment” or “bonding.” Many scientists have the feeling that the word “love” is reserved for poets and songwriters, rather than hard-nosed researchers. Furthermore, a number of researchers who accept love as a valid feeling to reference to humans still have doubts as to whether dogs can actually experience that same emotion.
Do Dogs View Humans As Dogs? ( Sounds Weird )
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Dogs, often hailed as humans’ best friends, have been the topic of many scientific studies looking into how they might boost our well-being. In this Spotlight, we’ll explain how your friendly pup can benefit your health across the board.
According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), an estimated 78 million dogs are owned as pets in the United States.
It is unclear when dogs were first domesticated, but a study published last year claims that, at least in Europe, dogs were tamed 20,000–40,000 years ago.
It is likely that humans and dogs have shared a special bond of friendship and mutual support ever since at least the Neolithic period — but why has this bond been so long-lasting?
Of course, these cousins of the wolves have historically been great at keeping us and our dwellings safe, guarding our houses, our cattle, and our various material goods. Throughout history, humans have also trained dogs to assist them with hunting, or they have bred numerous quirky-looking species for their cuteness or elegance.
However, dogs are also — and might have always been — truly valued companions, famed for their loyalty and seemingly constant willingness to put a smile on their owners’ faces.
In this Spotlight, we outline the research that shows how our dogs make us happier, more resilient when facing stress, and physically healthier, to name but a few ways in which these much-loved quadrupeds support our well-being.
Many studies have suggested that having dogs as pets is associated with better physical health, as reviews of the existing literature show. These findings persist.
Just last year, Medical News Today reported on a study that showed that owning a dog reduces a person’s risk of premature death by up to a third.
Also, researchers at the University of Harvard in Cambridge, MA, suggest that dog owners have a lower risk of heart disease.
Why is that? It is difficult to establish a causal relationship between owning a dog and enjoying better health.
However, the benefits may appear thanks to a series of factors related to lifestyle adjustments that people tend to make after they decide to adopt a canine friend.
The most prominent such lifestyle factor is physical activity. There is no way around it: if you own a dog, you have to commit to twice daily walks — and sometimes even more.
According to a paper published in The Journal of Physical Activity and Health, dog owners are more likely to walk for leisure purposes than both non-pet owners and people who own pet cats.
The results were based on studying a cohort of 41,514 participants from California, some of whom owned dogs, some of whom owned cats, and some of whom did not have any pets.
Moreover, several recent studies — including one from the University of Missouri in Columbia and another from Glasgow Caledonian University in the United Kingdom — found that adults aged 60 and over enjoy better health thanks to the “enforced” exercise they get by walking their dogs.
Dogs can strengthen our health not just as we grow older, but also much, much earlier than that: before we are even born.
Research published last year suggests that children who were exposed to dogs while still in the womb — as their mothers spent time around dogs during pregnancy — had a lower risk of developing eczema in early childhood.
Also, children exposed to certain bacteria carried by dogs also experienced a reduction of asthma symptoms, the researchers noted.
Perhaps the most intuitive benefit of sharing your life and home with a canine friend is that dogs give you “feel-good vibes” almost instantly.
It is really difficult not to cheer up, even after a hard day’s work, when you are greeted with — often vocal — enthusiasm by a friendly dog.
“During the last decades,” write the authors of a review that featured in Frontiers in Psychology, “animal assistance in therapy, education, and care has greatly increased.”
When we interact with dogs, our oxytocin levels shoot up. Since this is the hormone largely responsible for social bonding, this hormonal “love injection” boosts our psychological well-being.
Previous studies analyzed in the review have revealed that dog owners have more positive social interactions, and that the presence of canine friends makes people more trusting…and also more deserving of trust.
Moreover, dogs appear to reduce symptoms of depression and render people more resilient to stress. That is why dogs are often used as therapy animals. As researcher Brian Hare, of Duke University in Durham, NC, noted in an interview for The Washington Post:
Researchers hypothesize that therapy dogs can improve the psychological well-being of children going through cancer therapy, as well as help individuals diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) deal with disruptive symptoms or even prevent the onset of PTSD episodes.
Our canine companions could also give us clues and open new avenues of research when it comes to clinical research concerning our own health problems.
A study that MNT covered earlier this year reveals that dogs share certain metabolic conditions — such as obesity — with their human owners.
Thus, learning more about dogs’ gut microbiota and how they are affected by diet could help us understand how best to tackle our own eating habits.
Like humans, dogs can also develop some forms of cancer. Much like us, dogs can get brain tumors to similarly destructive effect, so learning which genes predispose our canine companions to gliomas may also be translated into cancer research for human patients.
Moreover, a contagious form of canine cancer could shed light into how forms of cancer found in humans have come to develop.
Researchers explain that by understanding how cognitive tasks are affected in these quadrupeds, we may become better equipped to solve the riddle of dementia in the case of humans, too.
“Dogs,” notes Dr. Rosalind Arden, of the London School of Economics and Political Science in the U.K., “are one of the few animals that reproduce many of the key features of dementia.”
“[S]o,” she goes on to add, “understanding their cognitive abilities could be valuable in helping us to understand the causes of this disorder in humans and possibly test treatments for it.”
Dogs are not just incredibly loveable and often very funny friends whose antics fuel the Internet’s store of memes continuously; their company also keeps us in good physical shape. Also, their health problems — sadly but endearingly — often mirror our own.
Most of all, however, we welcome them into our lives — and have done so since time immemorial — because they instantly bring us the sort of joy and calm that we would otherwise have to work hard to obtain.
Author Dean Koontz summarized this perfectly in his memoir of his own much-loved dog:
