Feelings: Your Dog Can Tell if You're Happy or Angry

Dogs seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to understanding our feelings. Even if this seems impossible to the most skeptical, various studies have been carried out that prove it: your dog can tell if you are happy or angry.

The University of Medicine of Vienna has wanted to prove this, and they have already published their study in a well-known scientific magazine.

How has it been shown that your dog knows if you’re happy or angry?

Using images, this Viennese university showed dogs the faces of their owners with two different features: one happy and the other angry. 

They showed the images to each dog one-by-one, and the dogs chose the happy expression photo every time. This does not only demonstrate that your dog can recognize if you are happy or angry, but also that they love us more and will always “choose” us when we are smiling.

But not only that, they also showed images of other people, 15 in total. They used the same individual in different sections but always with an angry face photo and a happy face photo. The dogs chose the happy photo every time.

Therefore, your dog is not only able to tell if you are happy or angry, but also he is able to do it with other people, even if they are strangers. 

We can’t say that dogs know what these emotions mean. They probably simply attribute anger to something negative and happiness to something positive, the same way that we know what we like and don’t like from a young age.

Here is the video that has surprised everyone…

https://youtu.be/peOUCKnrHZg

This discovery is a huge step in our relationship with our pets. Now it won’t be necessary to tell them that we had a bad or good day. They will already know as soon as we walk through the door.

Furthermore, your dog will act with you according to your mood because dogs are empathetic. Did you know that? 

Dogs and empathy

On other occasions, we have talked about this topic. Dogs are empathetic. So, what is empathy? It is a feeling of compassion tied to a need of doing something to help. In other words, it’s the feeling that lets us put ourselves in someone else’s shoes.

This feeling is not common in a world ruled by egoism and “me first.” However, our doggy friends have overwhelming empathy.

There have been many studies that have demonstrated that dogs have feelings and are able to recognize and help us with ours. How do we know this?

You only need to observe your dog’s behavior: what does he do when you are happy? And when you are sad? And if he sees you angry?

It has been proven that all dogs are happy when their owners are happy. They jump around you, want to play with you, bark, and want you to pamper them.

When you are sad, your dog will run to your side to lick you, cuddle you with his head, and try to get you to laugh. That is empathy!

And have you noticed your dog’s behavior when you are angry? It is very probable that he hides under the bed and doesn’t come out, not even when you call him. He wants to give you space. Why? Because he also knows what it’s like to have a bad day and sometimes there is no better solution than solitude. 

There will always be people that say that animals don’t have feelings, that they are no more than irrational beings. It is true that they don’t think, but different studies have shown that they do have feelings and are ready to help us according to our mood.