There’s plenty of reasons why dogs are called man’s best friend. They provide unconditional love and companionship and help improve overall mental and physical health, according to a wide range of research.
Dogs need to get outside, and they encourage their owners to get outside, too. Research shows that people who own dogs are much more likely to be physically active and meet recommended targets for physical activity. Owning a dog also may help lower blood pressure and heart rate.
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Petting a dog is soothing and can help reduce anxiety and stress. A recent, large review of data also found that having a dog or cat may benefit brain health by slowing cognitive decline. And dog ownership has been linked to a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease – or from any cause – especially for people who live alone.
But forming a healthy relationship with a dog may not be as simple as people may think.
“It’s so easy to humanize your dog’s behavior,” Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, a British neuroscientist who researches animal learning mechanisms, told Good Housekeeping last year. “We want to see them as little people and to believe they think and feel like us, but pushing human emotions on to a dog can lead to frustration in both of you. It means we can get it wrong and respond in a way that confuses or upsets our dogs, making problem behaviors even worse – and then we miss out on their inherent beauty as dogs.”
Cohen-Hatton co-authored the book “What Your Dog is Thinking,” published last year, which uses research to help people better understand their dogs’ behaviors and how to respond to them more effectively. One of the insights she offers is that dogs’ superior sense of smell helps them get to know their people and that when they seem to be gazing into their owners’ faces, they are actually sniffing out “chemo signals” about how their humans are feeling.
“Dogs literally wear their emotions on their body, so there are lots of cues about how they’re feeling, if we’re good observers,” Alexandra Horowitz, an author and dog cognition researcher at Barnard College in New York, told Outside magazine in 2024.
Horowitz said it’s important to look at a dog’s overall body language to understand how it is feeling.
“The key is to look [at] all parts of the body: if a dog’s ears are folded back against their head and their tail is wagging loosely and high, that’s a sign of pleasure or happiness,” Horowitz said. “But the same ears with a tail that’s hanging low between the legs, wagging quickly, is probably on a nervous or worried dog.”
Other tips for understanding a dog’s behavior:
• When dogs yawn, they may be tired. But yawning may also be a sign of anxiety. Other signs of fear, stress or anxiety are licking lips unrelated to eating food, panting when not hot or thirsty, furrowing the brow with ears to the side and pacing.
• Loose tail wagging or wagging in circular motions can be signs of relaxation. A dog tucking its tail between its legs is usually afraid.
• A happy dog may actually smile, with a soft, open mouth, the corners turned up. And a dog lowering its chest to the ground with its rear in the air is saying it wants to play.
• Low energy, restlessness, decreased appetite, clinginess and sad, droopy eyes may all be signs that a dog is depressed.
• A dog’s pawing may signal an unmet need, having to out, needing water or food. Pawing may also mean a dog wants to play. But lifting a paw without touching something or pawing to push someone away may indicate stress.
Loyola Marymount University offers this “dog to English translation chart” to help owners better understand their canines.