When you’re a pet parent, you know that love is always in the air, but have you ever stopped to wonder why? There are real biological reasons why our dogs love us, and vice versa, and we called the love doctor to break down the love between a dog and their human.
How can we show dogs that we love them?
The biggest reason dogs love their owners is because you care for them. If you are providing a safe and consistent environment your dog takes that as the greatest sign of your love for them. The more time you spend together the greater your bond will be which gives your dog a lot of those love hormones, also known as oxytocin. In fact, studies have proven that humans & dogs both have higher levels of oxytocin after just looking into each other’s eyes. (Queue our tears…)
Love Languages
You’ve heard of the 5 love languages. Do dogs also have a particular one they lean towards? Typically, their love languages are acts of service, like feeding them, taking them on walks, etc, and physical touch. Dogs, for the most part, love to have pets and belly rubs, and just lying around snuggling on the couch gives them loads of love, so you might add in quality time as well.
Overall, it appears quite easy to please a dog with whatever love language you enjoy giving because words of affirmation tend to give them joy as well (i.e. “Good Boy!”)
Do our dogs know we love them?
Yes! Dogs are highly empathetic creatures and naturally sense our love for them, just like how they can sense when we’re down or feeling sick. As we mentioned above, dogs produce oxytocin when they love and when they feel loved. It’s also been proven that dogs mimic facial expressions & emotions from their humans and also other dogs. This means that dogs have high emotional intelligence & empathy, which makes it so much easier for us to know that our dogs are capable of understanding love and reciprocating it.
While dogs want us to take care of them, and even though it may not feel like every mealtime or walk is an act of love, your dog thinks it is and they appreciate it!
How do our dogs show their love?
Dogs are pack animals, so when they love you they bring you into their pack and care for you as one of their own. To show their love they’ll bring you their favorite toy to play with or share their favorite things with you. When you go to sleep you might see your dog sleeping outside of your door, or at the foot of your bed, which means they’re “watching over you” to protect you while you sleep.
Next time your pup follows you into the bathroom, you can choose to see it as them showing how much they love you through their watchful eye of protection. Though, it is also likely that this is just because the bathroom has interesting scents & more to explore.
The biggest way that dogs show love is just by wanting to be near you, so the next time they put their snoot in your business or are constantly underfoot, just remember it’s because they love you so much, and maybe you can give them a little snuggle in return!
