What a dog feels when a person cries: scientists' answer astonished
A faithful friend, helper, protector or just a companion – all these kind words are said about a dog.
The dog has become so accustomed to people that it not only understands commands, but even remembers the meaning of some words, and this has been scientifically proven.
Hungarian scientists went even further and found out what a dog feels when a person cries. The results of the study were published in the journal Animal Behaviour.
Proven by science
Scientists have found that a crying person causes a dog to experience stress and, in general, nervousness is transmitted to the animal.
The reason is the so-called emotional contagion and vocal alphabet.
Most often, the effect occurs when there is a threat to life, which includes the crying of infants.
Of all the animals, only dogs understand this alphabet accurately and in most cases.
They react accurately to negative emotions or arousal in a person.
Domestic horses, cats, and domestic pigs also react to it to some extent.
As part of the experiment, scientists recruited 30 dogs aged 2 to 11 years.
Their owners played two sounds for their pets: crying or a monotonous chant (mumbling under their breath).
In response, the dogs barked and tried to touch the person, and from crying they began to get nervous and stressed.
Previously, we talked about why you shouldn’t give dogs food from the table .
