Oxytocin – The Love Hormone for Dogs

Oxytocin – The Love Hormone for Dogs 

A new study has revealed that your pet can love you so much that it might even ignore danger to see your smiling face. Basically, the more you pet your dog and gaze into their eyes, the more they will love you. There is research which explains why! Every time you gaze lovingly into your dog’s eyes, levels of oxytocin (the attachment hormone) go up. Oxytocin has been referred to as “the love hormone” because humans release it when we hug, touch, or look lovingly into someone’s eyes. To no surprise, this increases the attachment to that person or animal.

Another interesting fact is that more oxytocin also makes dogs prefer smiling faces over threatening ones, much like humans do. These findings do a good job of validating a virtuous cycle of affection between dogs and humans. The nicer you are to your dog, the more of the love hormone they will secrete. In turn, this will make them love you even more – so much that they might ignore danger for your sake!

You may be wondering how researchers could tell what a dog feels. The answer is very specific: by measuring the size of their pupils. Larger pupils indicate higher emotional arousal. Researchers administered oxytocin nasally to the dogs. They also used an eye-tracking device and examined the size of the dog’s pupils as well as the direction of their gaze.

We learned that dogs tend to focus more on the most salient aspects of a social situation – such as frightening cues in a dangerous situation. To no surprise, oxytocin seemed to make them override this survival instinct. Dogs that received oxytocin were far more interested in smiling human faces than threatening ones. The next time you pet your dog and stare lovingly into their eyes, realize that the oxytocin is working in full-force, making your connection even stronger!