Is your dog truly devoted to you?❓❔❔❔❔❔❓

The majority of dog owners claim that their pets adore them. Is it true affection, or do dogs simply know how to trick us into giving them food? Let's have a look at the evidence.

Dogs and humans have a long history of coexisting. Scientists generally assume that humans domesticated dogs some 10,000 years ago, and data from 2013 suggests that the two species have been genetically adapting to one another since then.

These modifications have made it easier for canines and humans to coexist.

Do dogs, on the other hand, adore us?

Well, there's a lot of evidence that suggests they might.

Love's chemical evidence

👉The oxytocin-gaze positive loop is the first piece of scientific proof.

The ol' "oxytocin-gaze positive loop," as it's known.

Oxytocin is a hormone that functions in the brain as a neurotransmitter.

When people hug or look into each other's eyes, bursts of this "molecule d'amour" are detected, and it appears to aid human connection.

However, it's possible that doggos have taken over this crucial chemical bonding mechanism.

A 2015 study in Japan discovered that dogs and humans use the same oxytocin pathway for cross-species gaze-mediated bonding.

When people and canines stare into one other's eyes, oxytocin, the so-called "love drug," is released.

The same researchers discovered that wolves rarely look people in the eyes and don't appear to release oxytocin when they do, implying that domesticated dogs are the only animals capable of doing so.

That's a big thumbs up for puppy affection.

Evidence from a brain scan is sniffed by the owner.

👉The second piece of evidence comes from Gregory Berns, a researcher who studies dog brains.

In a modest 2014 study, his team discovered that when a dog sniffs its owner, the canine brain lights up differently.

They used an fMRI machine to monitor a portion of the dog's brain called the caudate nucleus, which helps regulate our neural'reward system.'

The caudate nucleus lit up when the dogs smelled their owners.

The effect was not as powerful when the dogs sniffed other persons or dogs.

However, it's unclear whether the dog's brain simply equates its owner with mealtime.

Human and dog brains appear to handle emotionally-laden noises in comparable ways, according to another fMRI study conducted in Hungary.

Although the evidence isn't conclusive, it appears that dogs' brains have some distinct circuitry.

So, let's call this one a tie.

Evidence of an emotional relationship based on behavior

👉True, but don't dogs show us that they care about us?

Isn't their eager, committed behavior a proof of affection?

Dog owners frequently say that their dogs are affectionate, and unlike other non-primates, hounds actively seek out human eye contact. In addition, when alarmed, dogs, like children, would typically run to their owner – something that other animals rarely do.

A 2016 study demonstrated that dogs can recognize human emotions on our faces in addition to those behavioural indicators.

In front of each test canine, the researchers placed photographs of joyful and sad human faces, as well as a happy or furious human voice in a foreign language.

The dogs were more likely to glance at the face that matched the tone of the voice.

Even if it isn't love, it appears that the two animals share an emotional bond.

That should be enough to give this one to the puppies.

Is that, however, sufficient proof?

❌No, no, and no. ❌

While some researchers believe this is sufficient evidence that dogs love people, we wouldn't know for sure unless dogs reported feeling affection.

Because they may not comprehend love in the same way that we do.

To put it another way, we need dogs to tell us what we need to know.