Unspoken Connection: The Impact of Human Stress on Dogs

For many owners, dogs are more than just pets—they’re members of our family, part of our social circles, and a source of strong emotional support in times of need. But what many owners don’t know is that their emotional well-being can have a measurable impact on their dog’s health and behavior.

The Human-Dog Bond

Through the process of domestication, dogs have become highly attuned to the actions and emotions of their human companions. This sensitivity has resulted in dogs being able to understand our body language, gestures, facial expressions, and even tone of voice. What’s more, a growing body of research has demonstrated that dogs can detect, and even mirror, the emotional states of people around them—known as emotional contagion.

Emotional Contagion

If you’ve ever observed your dog becoming anxious when you yourself are feeling unsure about something, then you’ve already seen emotional contagion in action. It refers to the ability that dogs have to reflect the emotions of the people around them. New research from Queens University Belfast has highlighted this connection in a stressful situation, where a change in the owners’ heart rate predicted a similar change in their dogs’.

Synchronized Stress

The study measured the heart rates of owners and dogs during a mildly stressful or relaxing intervention at an unfamiliar veterinary clinic. Despite the fact that owners were not permitted to interact with their dogs during this time, the dogs could still tell when their owner became stressed. This, in turn, caused the dogs themselves to become stressed via social referencing, which is where a dog looks for signals from their owner about how to react in an uncertain situation.

Impact of Stress on Health

The long-term synchronization of stress levels has also been demonstrated between owners and their dogs. By analyzing the cortisol levels—a biomarker of stress— in hair samples, researchers at Linköping University in Sweden revealed that dogs can absorb and mirror the emotional states of their human companions over long periods. This is important because, like in humans, chronic stress in dogs has been linked to a range of health problems, including digestion and skin issues.

Behavior and Cognition

As well as poorer health outcomes, elevated stress has also been linked to a number of behavioural problems in dogs, including increased vocalisations and aggression. Moreover, recent research from Dalhousie University, Canada, found that exposing dogs to the odor of a stressed person altered their state of mind, making them more pessimistic. 

Visiting the Vet

One context in which the changes caused by stress can be problematic is in a veterinary setting. If an owner is anxious at the vets, for example because they are uncertain how their dog will react, this change in emotional state may be detected and mirrored by their dog. Not only could this increase behavioural challenges during examination, but it may also cause physical changes which can make diagnosis more challenging.

Tips for Owners

Given the strong emotional connection between dogs and their owners, it’s essential for pet owners to take proactive steps to manage their own stress levels in order to promote their dogs’ well-being in stressful environments, such as the vets. 

Practical recommendations include visiting your veterinary clinic regularly, not only when needed. By taking high value treats or toys, owners can build their dogs’ positive experiences in these settings, which in turn will have positive knock-on consequences for owners. Veterinarians should also be aware of the importance of managing owners’ stress levels during their interactions.

Final Thoughts

The unspoken connection that we share with dogs is deep and powerful, but with power comes great responsibility. Dogs are not only able to detect how we are feeling but also mirror our emotions—making our stress their stress. For this reason, pet owners should be aware of how their emotions can impact their dogs and take steps to mitigate the effects. By taking steps to reduce their own stress, dog owners can further reduce their dogs’ stress levels, helping to create a happier, healthier life for both.

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Sources

Byrne, A., & Arnott, G. (2024). Empathy or Apathy? Investigating the influence of owner stress on canine stress in a novel environment. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 106403. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016815912400251X

Parr-Cortes, Z., Müller, C. T., Talas, L., Mendl, M., Guest, C., & Rooney, N. J. (2024). The odor of an unfamiliar, stressed, or relaxed person affects dogs’ responses to a cognitive bias test. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 15843. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-43851-x

Sundman, A. S., Van Poucke, E., Svensson Holm, A. C., Faresjö, Å., Theodorsson, E., Jensen, P., & Roth, L. S. (2019). Long-term stress levels are synchronized in dogs and their owners. Scientific reports, 9(1), 7391. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-66147-1

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Author Bio

Carla Hart, PhD, is an experienced research scientist specializing in the human-animal bond. By combining her scientific understanding with a passion for writing, she unravels the intricate relationships we share with pets in her blog, The Power of Pets: Fuelled by Science.