HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR DOG?

Dogs reflect their ownerÂ’s emotions and personality

Some of the capabilities of dogs are obvious either through our own observation or because we have seen it on TV. We know they can watch TV the same as us, they    understand what we say, they recognise faces and expressions, they can see how we feel. What may be less known is that dogs get grey hair through stress, that they understand the loss of their owner and that they synchronize their heart with ours.

What has recently transpired according to a study published by a group of  researchers from the University of Vienna is that they also acquire their owner’s own personality traits.

According to Australian scientists, dogs can reflect the negativity and anxiety of their owners. In the same way, dogs that are relaxed and pleasant can also convey this  attitude to humans, which may help their owners cope with stress.

To reach these conclusions, researchers have subjected more than 100 dogs and their respective  owners to various tests, including the measurement of heart rate, their response to the threat and saliva samples in order to measure stress levels. According to Iris Schoberl, lead author of the research: - "The results show that dogs and owners are social dyads (couple of two beings closely and especially linked to each other) and that they feed each other, influencing their behaviour."

That is, dogs are sensitive to the emotional states of their owners and can reflect their emotions.