Dogs have a remarkable ability to connect with humans and build strong bonds with them. They’ve learned to become attuned to human emotions and have the amazing capability of sensing anxiety, depression, and other distress signals from humans.

Sometimes, it can feel like your dog has a sixth sense when it comes to your emotions. However, it’s possible that they’re just really good at using their sense of smell. Research has discovered that dogs can detect odors that indicate changes in stress levels. This type of research helps us grasp a better understanding of the unique bond between dogs and humans, which in turn can improve how we train psychiatric service dogs and therapy dogs to help many people in need.

Dogs and Human Emotions

Dogs are observant animals, and they tend to know much more about their owners than we think. They can read body language cues, distinguish various tones of voice, and even read facial expressions and connect them to the appropriate emotion. They often become masters of nonverbal communication and can quickly pick up on their owner’s emotional state by solely relying on their observational skills.

Can Dogs Smell Stress?

Along with being observant of our actions, dogs have an acute sense of smell. Dogs have powerful noses that can pick up on chemical signals, or chemosignals, emitted from the body. In the wild, dogs have used chemosignal detection to locate food and avoid predators.

With the domestication of dogs, they have picked up on the subtle differences in chemosignal odors that humans emit. Research has found that people’s chemosignal scents are different when they’re at their baseline and when they’re having a stress response. These scents can be found in people’s breath and sweat, and dogs are able to smell and distinguish them.

There are service dogs that have been specially trained to detect the early signs of seizures and other potentially dangerous health episodes before the human patient is aware of them, although we are not yet certain if they are picking up on changes in pheromones, electrical activity, or something else entirely. A 2022 study has found that dogs are capable of detecting and distinguishing chemosignals associated with happiness, fear, and a neutral state of being.

So, even if we might appear calm, your dog may still be able to sense emotional stress because of chemosignals emitted from your body.

How Do Dogs React to Depression and Anxiety?

Research on canine behavior has shown that dogs are capable of feeling a variety of emotions, and they may also be able to empathize with people. If a dog sees that their owner is depressed, they may try to help them feel better by cuddling with them or sitting by their side.

Dogs are also capable of experiencing emotional contagion, or “catching” their owner’s emotions. So, if you’re feeling anxious, your dog may also start to feel and show signs of anxiety, like restless pacing and whining. In many ways, your dog may be like a mirror to your emotional state. If you notice that your dog is particularly agitated, stressed, or sad, it just may be that they’re experiencing and reflecting the emotions they sense from you.

We often see the results of this when a person is walking their dog and becomes anxious upon approaching another dog or person. This anxiety seems to travel down the leash and the dog is very soon expressing that stress as well, or may take on a more protective stance to provide security for their worried owner.

How Do Dogs Become Psychiatric Service Dogs?

Some dogs are exceptionally aware of people’s emotional states and can become psychiatric therapy dogs. Good candidates for psychiatric service dog work usually have calm temperaments and are able to stay focused in busy and distracting environments. They’re also people-oriented dogs with an eagerness to please.

Psychiatric service dogs undergo extensive training to help their human companions. They must pass basic obedience training and learn to successfully perform their assigned therapeutic tasks consistently and reliably. Tasks that psychiatric service dogs can perform include waking people up from night terrors, reminding handlers to take their medication, and leading their handlers to a quiet space if they’re experiencing a panic attack.

Psychiatric service dogs can help a variety of people. They’re commonly seen helping people with PTSD, bipolar disorder, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. They can also help children with autism by helping them navigate and connect with the world around them or interrupt self-harming behaviors and be a calming and grounding presence for children.

Conclusion

Dogs are emotional animals and have the capacity to sense and perceive different emotions in humans. They use all their senses to observe and gather information on people’s emotional states. Some dogs even have higher levels of empathy, which makes them excellent candidates for service dog work.

So, the next time you’re feeling down or stressed out, pay attention to your dog’s behavior. They may start to reflect your mood or try to comfort you. Either way, your dog is often an excellent indicator of your emotional state of being, and paying attention to them can ultimately help you take better care of your emotional and mental health.

Featured Image Credit: Lucigerma, Shutterstock