A knowing glance. A paw on your arm. A lick on the cheek. Most dog owners can recall a time when they were feeling down. And somehow, their dog just knew something was wrong and responded with a loving gesture.
Many dog lovers have long believed that canines are able to sense human emotions. And, a growing body of evidence on the emotional connection between man and his best friend adds weight to these heartwarming anecdotes from owners. But new research suggests that dog intuition may run deeper than we previously thought. A study, published in Nature Scientific Reports this week, found that dog owners experiencing chronic stress can transfer it to their dogs. The researchers tracked the concentration of cortisol, a marker for stress, in dog owners and their pooches. They found that patterns of cortisol in dogs and owners closely matched over time, indicating that levels of the ...
