We’ve always found it funny to imagine dogs thinking and acting like people, but now tests have been performed and at long last scientists are coming up with the same conclusions many of us had come up with long, long ago.
I recently wrote that when I am swimming, if I suddenly don’t feel right, all I have to do is make eye contact with my service dog, Sky, who is waiting at the end of the pool, and I feel better and can finish my laps. Now tests have shown that eye contact with your beloved dog causes a flood of oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, in both human and dog. Looking at your dog, petting your dog, snuggling with your dog, these normal activities cause not only a release of oxytocin but of serotonin and endorphins as well, lowering pain and making us feel just wonderful, and happily, making our dogs feel just wonderful, too.
Is it any wonder dogs chose to live with us, back when it was a choice, and that we continue to choose to live with them now?
Carol Lea Benjamin on Dogs 