What emotions do dogs feel?

Do you often notice that your dog has a worse mood or is overjoyed at your arrival? It’s all about emotions! Dogs, like people, have feelings and can show them well. See how your pet lets you know about its emotions.

Modern research leaves no doubt that emotions motivate dogs’ behaviour. Because pets can’t tell us what they’re feeling, we have to guess things based on their body language. They learn this language from their mother at the earliest stage of life and practice it in contact with their siblings. All this is to be able to more effectively express their emotional states and communicate with representatives of other species.

Physiological manifestations of strong, basic feelings are easy to notice in animals that suffer from separation disorder. In a critical situation, the pet begins to hyperventilate, its heart rate is accelerated and irregular, skeletal muscles are tense, and the pads of paws sweat much more than usual. Dogs react differently to stressful situations. For example, a dog that can’t cope with loneliness will start displaying various undesirable behaviours at the earliest opportunity, such as barking and whining, biting, tearing things apart, or running around the room.

An animal that causes problems for its owners daily will probably be able to change its habits only after participating in therapy focused on its experiences.

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Dogs avoid activities that may cause pain or discomfort daily. Instead, they repeat rituals that make them feel good, such as long walks with a caregiver or afternoon games with children present at home. Of course, this would not be possible without the ability to feel emotions. Scientists agree that animals can feel basic emotions such as fear, rage or panic. The structures and physiological mechanisms responsible for them are the same as in humans. In both cases, feelings are governed by the limbic system. One of its most important parts is the amygdala. It plays an essential role not only in generating and storing specific reaction patterns but also in recognizing the feelings of others.

Scientists still question the idea that dogs could know more complicated, complex states like pride, shame, contempt, or guilt. Even children develop these feelings quite late, around three or four years old when they already have their first social interactions behind them. What emotions do dogs feel? At least elementary, their experiences are similar to ours. The beloved four-legged friend is perfectly adapted to experience joy and excitement, anger, anxiety, depression, or frustration with the owner. He is also familiar with love. Dogs’ brains produce oxytocin, also known as the love hormone, which generates a feeling of trust and promotes the establishment of close, strong bonds with other household members. However, it does not change the fact that the tendency to humanize them can lead to serious misunderstandings. Although dogs have chosen to live with us, they are other species. If you do not remember that a dog sees the world differently, you will miss a chance to communicate with your pet and not let him develop. How to overcome this barrier?

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Observe your pet’s behaviour for some time to understand its feeling better. A caring caretaker will sooner or later be able to determine what makes the pet calm, fearful, or aggressive. However, it is not enough to learn simple tips to know exactly what each dog wants to convey at a given moment. The same reactions, such as yawning, can mean several completely different things depending on the context, ranging from anxiety to insecurity to deep stress. No matter how much you already know about canine body language, learning to communicate positively and openly with your dog is likely to take a lifetime. What emotions do dogs feel? How to recognize them?

An alarm signal that your dog does not like what the other dog is doing will be e.g. tucking of the tail, muscle tension and standing up of the hair on the nape, back or shoulders. A high-stress level may, in some cases, be indicated by the frequent marking of the territory. The source of misunderstanding can also be the characteristic wagging of the tail, which is sometimes an expression of pure joy at the sight of its master, and in other cases – a sign that the dog feels insecure.

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