Ever heard someone refer to their dog as their “fur baby” and thought it just a figure of speech?
Research has shown that when a mother stares into her baby’s eyes, the baby’s levels of the “feel good” hormone oxytocin rise, which causes the infant to stare back into its mother’s eyes, which causes the mother to release more of her own oxytocin, and so on.
It is thought this positive feedback loop is the mechanism that creates the strong emotional bond between mother and child.
Takefumi Kikusui, an animal behaviorist at Azabu University in Sagamihara, Japan, wondered if the same held true for dogs; why do we feel so close to them? To test his hypothesis that the same hormone, oxytocin, was at work in the bonding between humans and their dogs, he had 30 dog/human pairings come into his lab; researchers collected urine from both the dog and the human to establish a baseline, and then asked the humans to interact with their dogs for 30 minutes; participants were asked to gaze into their dog’s eyes, some for a couple of minutes, some for just a few seconds.
Gazing had a significant effect on the production of oxytocin in both the dogs and their humans, as determined by analyzing their urine after they interacted. Of the pairs that had spent more time looking into each other’s eyes, the humans experienced a whopping 300% rise in oxytocin levels, while their dogs saw a 130% increase. No oxytocin increase was seen in the dog and human pairings that had spent a shorter amount of time gazing at each other.
Proof, if any where needed, that our bond with our dogs is as strong as, and behaves like, a mother with her infant. They ARE our fur babies! This positive feedback loop may have, Kikusui suggests, played a critical role in the domestication of dogs from wolves some 30,000 years ago; only those animals that could bond with humans would have received care and protection, and reciprocally humans themselves may have evolved the maternal bonding instinct, adapting the feedback loop to a new species.
There’s no better way to celebrate the bond with our furry four-legged friends than National Dog Day, which is tomorrow, August 26th. You can show your four-legged friend how much you care by giving him or her extra hugs or a new toy; Gordon suggests treats, and lots of them! Animal rescue advocate, pet and family lifestyle expert, and dog trainer Colleen Paige founded National Dog Day in 2004. August 26th wasn’t chosen at random by Paige; it’s the day that Paige’s family adopted Sheltie, their first dog, from a local animal shelter.
All dogs, whether purebred or mixed breed, are celebrated on National Dog Day. One of the important goals of the holiday is for people to recognize how many dogs are waiting in shelters to be rescued. My dog, Gordon, is a rescue, though he is such an important and indispensable part of my life now I sometimes wonder whether I rescued him or he rescued me!
And now, some fun dog facts
(from Number of Dogs in the US 2024: Statistics, Demographics, and Trends):
- 63.4 million households in the United States have dogs
- 80% of US dog owners are male, 68% are female
- the Labrador Retriever, German Shepherd Dog, and Golden Retriever are the top three favorite breeds of dogs in the United States
- the state with the most dog owners is Arkansas (48% of the population)
- the state with the least dog owners is Massachusetts (24% of the population)
And breeds?
Glad to see the Poodle making the top ten, in a solid, respectable seventh place internationally and according to the American Kennel Club. No specific mention or ranking of the TAX-Poodle though.
So I invite you to take a respite from armed national guard troops policing our nation’s capital, genocide and starvation in Gaza, the war in Ukraine, higher prices because of a ridiculous tariff war affecting friend and foe alike, extreme climate-change driven heat, and the heartbreaking story of a Los Angeles Latino teenager abducted off the street by masked ICE agents while walking his dog in Van Nuys – ICE agents who then callously and irresponsibly unleashed the dog and let it run off.
Hug your fur baby. Gaze into his or her eyes. Let’s celebrate our dogs.
Let’s find homes for the ones suffering alone in shelters. Can’t adopt or foster? Volunteer. Can’t volunteer? Donate. Here are some links to organizations dedicated to making sure we hold up our end of the “best friend” bargain:
- ASPCA: American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
- Priceless Pets: a northeastern Los Angeles no-kill pet rescue
- Best Friends: save them all!
- Animal Samaritans: a Coachella Valley rescue and low-cost veterinary clinic
Gordon also recommends belly rubs, not just for National Dog Day but on a regularly scheduled, preferably hourly basis. Here we are on the day (at the actual moment) we met for the very first time at the Palm Springs Animal Shelter:
