For thousands of years, humans have been keeping dogs as pets, and these animals have always been regarded as humans’ best friends. Experts say that dogs may sense the stress of their owners or even strangers, which could affect their own health. This is something that people who own dogs or work with dogs should be aware of.
Dr. Aoife Byrne, a doctoral candidate in Animal Behavior and Welfare at the University of Nottingham, and Dr. Gareth Arnott, a lecturer in Animal Behavior and Welfare at Queen’s University Belfast, wrote an article on The Conversation website explaining how dogs are influenced by people.
In ancient times, people kept dogs for hunting, guarding, and other tasks. Nowadays, they are mainly used as companions for humans.
Although today’s dogs seem to have an easier life than their ancestors, they still face many stresses, including visits to the veterinarian.
In a study published in 2022, French researchers examined how the behavior of dog owners at the vet clinic affects the stress levels of dogs. The study found that negative behaviors of owners, such as scolding, increase the dogs’ anxiety during veterinary examinations.
Prior to the research conducted by these two scholars, no one had studied how owners’ stress affects dogs in a controlled environment.
They explained that unlike the French study mentioned earlier, their research specifically looked at how owners’ stress affects dogs’ stress at the vet clinic, with stress being measured by changes in heart rate.
In this study, 28 dogs and their owners participated in an experiment. Both dogs and owners wore heart rate monitors to monitor and record their heart rates and heart rate variability, in order to measure their stress levels.
They then had owners undergo different interventions to increase or relieve stress and monitored the effects on both owners and dogs.
Interventions to increase stress included having owners perform mental arithmetic exercises and oral presentations, while interventions to relieve stress involved watching a 5-minute guided breathing meditation video.
They found that as dogs adapted to the vet clinic environment, their heart rates decreased. This suggests that veterinarians should give dogs some time to adapt to their clinic environment before examining them.
This not only reduces the dogs’ stress but may also enhance the effectiveness of any examinations or tests conducted by the veterinarian, as indicators such as heart rate and respiratory rate may increase due to heightened stress.
These two scholars explained that in their study, they also found that changes in owners’ heart rates before and during the experiment could be used to predict changes in dogs’ heart rates. If owners’ heart rates increased or decreased during the experiment, their dogs’ heart rates might also increase or decrease accordingly.
These research results indicate that dogs may be able to sense their owners’ stress and, through the process of “emotional contagion,” affect their own stress levels.
“Emotional contagion” is a phenomenon where humans and other animals may consciously or unconsciously “catch” or mimic the emotions and behaviors of those around them.
In this study, owners were asked not to interact with their dogs during the experiment. Therefore, assessments of owners’ stress were done in situations where there was no direct communication between owners and dogs.
For the average dog owner, if their stress could potentially affect their dogs, they should consider this when taking their dogs to the vet. If veterinarians help owners feel calmer in the clinic, this can also make their dogs feel more comfortable.
These scholars mentioned that although their research mainly focused on the relationship between dogs and owners, a recent study found that when dogs undergo cognitive bias tests, the scent of unfamiliar and stressed individuals affects their learning and cognition. This means that dogs may also be influenced by the stress of strangers.
In conclusion, these two scholars emphasized that from their research, it is clear that dogs are perceptive animals who are influenced by the external environment and the people around them. Those who care for dogs or work with dogs should remember that their own stress may affect the stress levels of the dogs.