One look is all you need to understand the enduring bond
between humans & dogs.
Domestic dogs, unlike their wild wolf cousins, are adept at
non-nonverbal communication with humans, and a lot of eye contact happens
between dogs and their owners. But there’s more to that gaze than meets the
eye: When owners and their dogs stare into each other’s eyes, levels of
oxytocin - the so called “love” molecule - spike in the bloodstream
of both man and dog.
The same effect occurs when a mother stares at her baby, and
researchers, in a new study, believe this mutual love-fest is an example of
coevolution that helped dogs ditch the wilderness to become man’s best friend.
The Love Loop
If you were to hang out in a wolf pack, you’d be well served
avoiding eye contact. In the wild, wolves perceive direct eye contact as an act
of aggression. So why, then, does your chubby Labrador gaze longingly back at
you? Japanese researchers had a theory: Perhaps dogs use their puppy eyes as a
way to tug on your heartstrings, and, well, fall in love.
To test this, they performed two experiments to monitor
levels of oxytocin in the urine of both dogs and humans after brief
interactions. Oxytocin is a hormone that has long been known to foster
intimacy, bonding and maternal behaviors.
In the first test, researchers tested oxytocin levels in the
urine of 30 owners before and after they spent 30 mins in a room with their
dog. Their analysis revealed that owners whose dogs stared at them longer in
the first five minutes experienced a big boost in oxytocin levels. Similarly,
dogs that stared at their owners longer also received a boost of the hormone.
When the experiment was repeated with wolves, there wasn’t a mutually beneficial
oxytocin loop; the wolves were not interested in looking at humans in the room.
Endless Gaze
In the second experiment, researchers dosed dogs with
oxytocin by nasal spray, and the dogs spent time in a room with their owner
plus two strangers. They found that female dogs gazed at their owners for even
longer than before, though male dogs were unaffected, for reasons that remain a
mystery.
The second experiment, researchers say, may be evidence that
a deep gaze is one of the tools dogs use to openly show their affection. The
same thing happens when a mother holds a baby in her arms and gives it a loving
look. The mutual demonstrations of affection release oxytocin and strengthen
the bond between the two. Researchers published their findings this week in the
journal Science.
Building a Bond
It makes sense, evolutionarily speaking, for dogs to have a
few tools to nurture a bond with humans. Domestic dogs enjoy the warmth, safety
and, of course, table scraps from their human companions. Humans, in turn,
enjoy the protection offered by dogs. Researchers believe gazing is a way to
communicate social attachment, arising over the millennia of human-dog
coevolution.
So next time your dog is giving you puppy eyes, it’s
probably him saying, “I love you.” Unless of course it’s “I would like a bite
of that sandwich please.” Hard telling.
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