Do dogs have emotions?

It’s any pet parent's (and curious pet sitter's!) dream to tap into the mind of their furry beloved - so you’re bound to have wondered about your dog’s emotions before. While pups are full of excitement one moment and pining the next, it begs the question - do dogs have emotions - and do you really have an angry doggo, guilty doggo or happy-go-lucky pooch on your hands? Well here we explore the spectrum of dog emotions, how they’re expressed through your dog’s behavior, and how the relationship between dogs and humans affects how our pups (seem to) feel.

Do dogs have emotions?

In short, yes! Dogs experience emotions, just like us humans (at least, in part). Our furry friends are able to experience basic emotions like joy, fear, anger, disgust and love, but there’s not enough evidence to suggest they can feel complex emotions like shame, pride or guilt just yet.

And that probably comes as no surprise to you, fellow pooch lover. As a well-seasoned pet parent, you’ll be used to your pup bounding towards you when you arrive home, showering you with excitement and love just to be back in your company. You’ll also be familiar with the comfort our four-legged friends can provide when we’re down or upset, seeming to mirror those human emotions themselves. 

So it seems as though dogs are feeling something like emotion, but how are they really feeling inside, and what are the triggers? Well it’s not quite as simple as feeling emotion due to an external trigger, at least some of the time. Rather, dog emotions are more about the dog-human connection, a two-way relationship where emotions are shared and mirrored. To understand this relationship and to get to the bottom of your dog’s emotions, let’s take a look at how having humans in their lives over the centuries has made our pups more emotional beings than us Sapiens might have first considered.

Dog emotions: the human-pup connection

As we’ve started to establish, the connection between us humans and our pups is the driving factor in our dogs showing (what looks like to us, at least) emotion. Emotions and feelings we put out into the world (like warmth, love and fear) are in turn shared by our furry friends. Psychologists have named this interspecies emotional contagion, where, through ‘primitive empathy’, feelings are ‘caught’ from one species and passed onto another. And it’s no surprise, if we think about it. We spend a whole lot of time with our dogs, and they’ve had centuries of adapting to living alongside us (rather emotionally complex) creatures.

Studies have shown that this transmission of emotions from humans to pups (otherwise known as interspecies emotional contagion) relies on the release of the hormone oxytocin along with body odor changes, sounds, body language, posture and facial expressions. And the more time our pups spend with their humans, the more attuned they become to our emotional cues, making them furry little experts at taking on those emotions themselves, and in turn strengthening the bond between us (and answering the question - why do dogs get so excited when you come home?).

Dog emotions: mirroring

You might already know that we humans are pretty expert when it comes to mirroring others - whether it's through body language, posture, tone of voice, or straight-up empathy through reflecting emotions right back at the other person, it’s no surprise that as such social creatures, we’re rather good at it. Mirroring one another helps to create a closeness during interaction, strengthening alliances, social bonds and trust. 

So what about our dog’s emotions - where do they come into all of this? Well it turns out that our pups do this with one another, too. When pups are playing, they reflect one another’s behavior and movements, which, like with us humans, is done subconsciously. And when it comes to pups hanging out with their humans? Well they may be able to mirror some of our behaviors as well, taking on the emotions, feelings and energy levels of their human family members. It can also work in the other direction, with us mirroring the feelings of our pups in certain situations. Think about when your pooch tenses up through fear or anger from an external trigger like another dog - for many of us, we’ll mimic this tension without realizing it, at least initially before we’ve consciously processed why our pup is feeling stressed or anxious.

Dog emotions: sights, sounds and smells

So what are the cues that our pups are subconsciously looking out for in their humans, in order to mimic their emotions and form those strong bonds we’re all familiar with? Well there are a few sensory factors at play, including sight, sound and smell, so let’s take a look at each of these in a touch more detail to work out how our pups interpret us

Facial expressions and body language

Through studies on the relationship between pups and their humans, many studies have shown that dogs are pretty tuned into the movements and expressions of their pet parents and other human family members. Body cues or body language like the speed of movement, stiffness, tension, and maybe even the flamboyance of the movement (showing excitement or a lack of) might be picked up on with a tilt of the head and then mimicked by our pups. Of course, these movements from us as humans are a reflection of how we’re feeling, so by mirroring this, it can seem as though our pups are taking on those emotions themselves. Other studies have shown that our furry friends can even interpret our facial expressions, at least some of the most basic, dramatic, or more commonly used versions. A study showed that our dogs respond (shown by alterations in their gaze and heart rate) to facial expressions that show anger, fear, surprise, disgust, happiness and sadness.

Sounds

As an experienced pet parent, you’ll know that your pooch has rather impressive hearing abilities, and it can help them to pick up on (and reflect) both positive and negative emotional states in their humans. Various studies on pups’ reactions to various sounds produced by humans have shown that they certainly are affected by us humans and the sounds we make when we’re feeling certain emotions. Reactions (or mirroring) in our pups include an increase in cortisol levels when they hear a baby crying (which is the same response we humans have), yawning when we do, along with different responses when they hear emotional sounds than they do to other non-emotional human noises.

Smells

If you know your pup, you’ll know that their world is nothing short of FILLED with different smells. And it’ll be no surprise to you that our furry friends are pretty sensitive to our body odor (in fact, they’re so sensitive to it that some dogs can be trained to detect diabetes and epilepsy in humans!). When it comes to emotions, a study showed that after being exposed to the body odor of a human who was feeling fearful, the dogs’ heart rates increased and stressful behaviors were displayed in response. When they were exposed to the odor of humans with more positive emotions however, their heart rates were lower, showed fewer stress responses and were more interested in the humans around them.

What emotions do dogs feel?

While our pups are clearly affected by the emotional state of their humans, the evidence at the moment suggests that the emotional capabilities of dogs is a whole lot simpler than that of us humans, with more complex emotions left untapped. In fact, it’s frequently been compared to the range of emotions that toddlers experience, which makes a lot of sense, as young children are particularly sensitive to the state of caregivers, constantly on the lookout for cues and guidance. Along with picking up on our feelings, you won’t be surprised to know that our pups can also experience feelings of anxiety, fear, disgust, excitement, grief, jealousy, joy, love, sadness and stress due to external triggers in their lives.

Do dogs get sad?

If you’d like to keep exploring the inner workings of your pup’s mind, grab a cup of something warm and get comfortable as we explore whether dogs get sad.