Parental Figures
Dogs look at owners like parental figures. When a dog is staring at you, it could be because they want to make sure they aren’t missing something.
Dogs want to make sure they can be there if their owner needs something.
Will my dog love me more because I look cute?
If you’re wondering if a certain level of physical beauty can win your dog’s approval, I’ve got bad news for you. Dogs are not wired to focus on human faces, strictly for beauty features.
Luckily for dogs, they don’t understand vanity or have shallow desires regarding looks that many humans share. While dogs may be staring at you, it is more often for visual cues than anything else.
Although dogs recognize familiar faces, like their owners, they get more excited by seeing another dog. This also calls into another question of whether dogs know that other dogs are the same species as them?
A study in the Journal of Neuroscience shows that while dogs aren’t wired to focus on human faces, they do have a specialized brain region that lights up when another dog comes into view.
What Do Dogs Think of Us?
From the manner of dogs smacking their legs, taking our blankets, and occupying our laps, they appear to be quite playful and adorable.
But what do they think while they are doing these acts?
Are they cute because they think we are cute?
Or is there any other reason?
Because dogs cannot tell what is going on within their fuzzy brains, we can never really know if they have a concept of cuteness.
But thanks to new advances in neuroimaging research, we are beginning to grasp a clearer understanding of what is occurring within our dog’s skull.
Experts in the field of domesticated pet behavior sciences are now researching the minds of dogs.
And what the studies reveal is particularly favorable for all pet owners: dogs do appear to care for us, and they treat us the same as them.