Science proves your dog’s silent ability to judge you

Canines have an extraordinary capacity to understand their owners’ feelings, and it all comes down to scent. New research demonstrates a direct link between the smells humans give off and the moods of their dogs.

DOGS DETECT HUMAN EMOTIONS THROUGH SCENT

“Dogs have an extraordinary ability to detect bad odours in the air, and logically, their olfactory system contributes significantly to the regulation of their social relationships,” explains Biagio D’Aniello, a researcher at the University of Naples in Italy. Through an involved experiment, D’Aniello and his team discovered that dogs could sense their owners’ fear and happiness by smell alone.

To examine this, the scientists collected sweat samples from 40 men while they watched both horror and happy films. When the dogs were exposed to the sweat produced during the horror film, they showed signs of stress, including a faster heart rate and a strong desire to stay near their owners.

In contrast, dogs became markedly calmer and more social when faced with “happy” sweat samples. D’Aniello concluded, “Not only were the dogs able to detect human emotions, but they also affected their behaviour.”

SCENT EXCHANGE: A TWO-WAY STREET

This emotional understanding might be reciprocal. A supplementary British study, conducted by Juliane Kaminski at the University of Portsmouth, reveals that dogs make a wider range of facial expressions when they’re aware that humans are watching.

This could mean our pets are intentionally manipulating our emotions, just as their moods change depending on our scent.

WHAT’S NEXT IN SCENT RESEARCH?

This research provides compelling evidence that dogs and people communicate in a previously underappreciated way: through scent. Further exploration is needed to fully grasp the complexities of this emotional interchange and whether dogs’ remarkable understanding is gained through domestication or is part of their natural empathy.