We know our dogs have emotions, right? They are happy when we get home and sad when we leave. They show jealousy when one of their friends or siblings get more attention than they do. They get angry when certain buttons are pushed. Their facial expressions may not always show it but we, as dog owners know exactly what they are feeling. Just recently, the topic of dogs and emotions has been surfacing in the media. For the most part, the media says that dogs do not feel emotions and we, as dog owners, are reading too much into what our dogs are supposedly feeling. Early this week, The Whole Dog Journal ran an article spotlighting researchers in Hungary who looked into whether dogs feel emotions or not. The researchers used an MRI machine to image the brains of 11 dogs and 22 people while they were stimulated with events that would produce emotions. They were shocked at the results.
“Researchers in Hungary took MRI scans of dogs’ brains and found they react to voices the same way humans do, particularly concerning emotionally charged noises – laughing and crying. Dogs cry, and many can attest to their dogs laughing, at least as much as a dog is capable of laughing, so it comes as no surprise that these are two sounds that evoke specific responses in dogs’ brains.”
They used sounds to stimulate both the dogs and humans and saw that the area of the brain, the “voice area” was located in a similar location and both showed activity when a pleasing or unpleasant sound was played. The dogs reacted to dog sounds more and the people reacted to people sounds more. This showed researchers that dogs understand what they are hearing and where the sounds come from. The results between the two species were very similar.
“They found that the temporal pole – the anterior part of the temporal lobe, which regulates emotions, hearing, language, learning and memory – was the portion of the brain activated when listening to the human and animal sounds.”
More research is ongoing but it seems to prove what we have known all along. Dogs are empathetic. They know joy, love, sadness, and can tell when you are having a good or bad day and react accordingly. If you want to test this theory, bring your dog into the Pet Pantry and watch him smile as he checks out the toys and treats. There are a lot of things that should make their tails wag and if you watch, you’ll see a smile on their face. They do so much for you and expect so little in return. That is why they are known as Man’s Best Friend.