Many people have pets, and there is a saying that the dog is man’s best friend . In reality, those who have lived with a dog will know that people create a deep relationship with these animals.

Dogs and humans often have a special connection, and dogs are even there for their owners in bad times. In this sense there is a type of psychotherapy called assisted therapy, in which dogs are the star animal.

Dog therapy can enhance patients’ relational and communication skills, stimulate motor activity, improve social skills, reduce stress or anxiety and improve patients’ self-esteem.

  • You can learn more about dog therapy in our article: “The Benefits of Dog Therapy”

Dogs understand us more than we think

Having a dog can change our lives, because they give us a good time, they give us company, they are faithful companions and we can even talk to them because they can show intelligent behaviour. In fact, at the brain level there seem to be more similarities than we thought.

These animals have been used in many studies that claimed to know more about learning or intelligence. A clear example is Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning experiments or Edward Thorndike’s experiments.

Our relationship with dogs is very different from that with cats, which tend to be more solitary animals and for some even surly and insensitive. According to one study, cats dominate their owners; however, they seem to love people more than we thought. At least that’s what other research indicates.

The results of a survey by the Affinity Foundation’s II Scientific Analysis of the Relationship between People and Pets indicate that 71% of dog owners communicate regularly with their pet . I am sure that those who have dogs have been able to verify that they seem to listen to us when we talk to them. This seems to be indicated by research carried out by the University of Sussex in the UK.

How a dog’s brain works when we communicate with them

Dogs are well known for having a very fine sense of smell, but also a spectacularly effective ear. In fact, when we talk to them, they often pay attention to what we’re saying, especially when they want something, such as food.

The group of researchers from the University of Sussex states that dogs understand us when we talk to them. Not only do they listen to our voice, but they differentiate the words. In this sense, these animals seem to have a brain that elaborates language in a similar way to humans .

Dogs use different parts of the brain to process information. On the one hand, the left hemisphere is purely verbal and performs an analysis of the voice, the emotional content of the message, the languages, sounds and phonetic content known to them. In addition, dogs use the right hemisphere to process rhythms, languages and sounds that are not familiar to them. This research involved a sample of 250 dogs, and the results seem to indicate that the dogs understand the content of the messages. The researchers are clear about this: “domestication has been key to the evolution of dogs’ brains to become similar to ours.

However, this study leaves questions open and unanswered, as we don’t know how much and to what extent dogs really understand what we feel and the non-verbal language we convey.

The memory of dogs also appears to be similar to that of humans

Researchers have found that dogs have a similar ability to remember as humans do, and they remember more and better when there are emotional ties in those memories.

However, one study claims that a dog’s emotional competence is like that of a three-year-old child. They can feel similar emotions to humans: happiness, love, anger and, of course, fear. However, according to a study from the University of British Columbia, dogs may not experience emotions of a higher level, such as shame .

It is important to keep this in mind, because we often tend to interpret the actions of companion animals from a perspective that leads us to humanize almost everything they do. It is true that dogs are not simply robots that react to what we do through relatively mechanical and predictable processes, but neither can we say that they experience their life and relationships in the same way that we humans do.

It is quite possible that dogs have a certain degree of awareness of themselves and others , but that does not make them ready to feel or socialize by interpreting what they are told in such an accurate and nuanced way as we do.

The benefits of having a dog

Dogs are the preferred companion animal for many, and their presence can make us really happy. This is what was demonstrated in the II Scientific Analysis of the Affinity Foundation on the Link between People and Companion Animals, in which research was carried out on 6,000 subjects.

74% of respondents said that having a dog as a pet increased their well-being. In addition, 31% said their dog or cat is more important to them than their friends.

Now, what are the benefits of having a dog? A dog brings the following benefits:

  • Exercise aid: A dog can be an ideal companion to go for a walk.
  • Greater social life: Having a dog as a pet not only gets you out of the house, but also allows you to meet new people.
  • It is a good therapeutic tool: it improves people’s wellbeing thanks to assisted therapy with dogs.
  • Improves cardiovascular health: Encouraging physical exercise improves heart health.
  • Reduces stress: This is proven by scientific studies.
  • It makes you feel safer: The company of a dog also offers security.
  • It makes you responsible: Caring for a pet demands responsibility.

If you want to know more about the benefits of a dog, you can read our article: “10 benefits of having a dog (according to science)”