Canine behaviorists repeat it over and over again: it's important to stay calm and relaxed to hope that your dog is too. This empirical postulate is now based on scientific bases because a brand new study - the results of which appeared very recently in the Scientific Reports of Nature - proves to us once again that there is a very strong empathy between dogs and humans.
The level of stress measured by the amount of cortisol in body hair and hair
During this study, a team of researchers from Linköping University (Sweden) looked at the stress levels of 58 dogs from two different breeds, Border Collies and Shetland Sheepdogs, and their female owners.To do this, the researchers measured the concentration of cortisol in the hair and body hair of the canine and human participants. Cortisol is a hormone whose blood concentration increases with stress. When its quantity in the blood becomes important, it is gradually incorporated into the body hair. Appendage analysis is therefore a good way for researchers to find traces of stressful episodes in an individual, in other words: to measure their level of stress over the long term.
The dog reflects the state of stress of its owner
According to the results of the Swedish study, cortisol levels in the hair of dogs and the hair of their mistresses increase at the same time, suggesting that humans communicate their state of stress to their animal.
The long-term contagiousness of stress had also already been studied intra-specifically in humans and more particularly between mothers and their children, whose relationship is ultimately not so far from the one that unites a dog to its mistress.
Working on yourself to influence your dog's behavior?
The results of this study, conducted on two different species that cohabit, will certainly have to be confirmed and repeated, but reinforce what we already suspected: our dogs are "emotion sponges" . And, given that stress is at the origin of the occurrence of a large number of behavioral disorders, it's a safe bet that by already working on your own emotions, you will be able to more easily resolve unwanted behavior. of his dog, during the implementation of behavioral therapy. To Zen Master, Zen Dog!
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