Humans bond with dogs and babies through constant eye contact

There is a scientific reason that many of us agree with our dogs and evidence to support the power of canine eyes.

Researchers have found that when dogs look into our eyes, they activate the same hormonal response that encourages human mothers to bond with their offspring.

Researchers say this effect explains how dogs became human companions thousands of years ago.

“The human-dog relationship is remarkable because it is an interspecies form of bonding,” said the study authors, whose work was published in the research journal Science.

According to the study, sight plays a critical role in human communication.

“Looking not only facilitates the understanding of the other’s intention, but also the establishment of accompanying relationships with others. In humans, “mutual gazing” is the most basic manifestation of the social bond between mother and infant.

Mutual insight became the cornerstone of the study, led by Takefumi Kikusui, a dog and animal behaviorist at Azabu University in Sagamihara, Japan.

Kikusui studies oxytocin, the so-called “love hormone” responsible for expressing and responding to emotions, strengthening bonds with others, and is a catalyst for falling in love.

Previous studies have shown that when a mother and child look into each other’s eyes, oxytocin levels increase on both sides. This positive feedback loop is the foundation for a deep but mostly nonverbal relationship.

Kikusui hypothesized that a similar feedback loop might exist between dogs and humans.

“I love my dogs and always feel they are more partners than pets,” he said. “So I started asking myself, ‘Why are they so close to people? Why are they so strongly attached to us?’ “

Kikusui and his team contacted 27 parents of the cubs and a handful of people who raised wolves and invited them to participate in the lab-based study.

The research team collected urine samples from both dogs and humans and then instructed the owners to interact with their animals in a room for 30 minutes. During this time, the dogs and their humans looked into each other’s eyes for varying amounts of time, from a few seconds to a few minutes.

Wolves were generally less interested in or able to make eye contact.

At the end of the half-hour session, urine samples were collected again.

Of the dog-human pair that spent the most time gazing into each other’s eyes, dogs experienced a 130% increase in oxytocin levels, while humans experienced a 300% increase. The team observed no increase in wolf-owner pairs or dog-human teams that spent minimal time gazing.

These results suggest that wolves do not use mutual gaze as a form of social communication with humans, as wolves tend to use eye contact as a threat.

In a second experiment, the protocol was repeated, but the wolves were excluded and the dogs were given an oxytocin nasal spray before interacting with their owner.

Female dogs that received the spray spent 150% more time looking into their owners’ eyes. In response, the owners experienced a 300% increase in their oxytocin levels. No effect was recorded in male dogs. Kikusui hypothesizes that the nasal spray may have exclusively affected female dogs because oxytocin plays a more important role in female reproduction.

According to the researchers, these results suggest that human-dog relationships are rooted in the same positive oxytocin feedback loop as mother-infant interactions. This explains why we feel so close to our canine companions and they to us.

Kikusui argues that this feedback loop played an essential role in the domestication of dogs. As wolves evolved into dogs, only those that displayed the ability to bond with humans were afforded care and protection.

Kikusui also suggests that because oxytocin reduces anxiety, this feedback loop was and is critical to our well-being, “If human beings are less stressed, it’s better for their health.”