Canines have their own way of viewing the world. They’re able to use their processes uniquely to form opinions, understand society and learn more about you, their owner, everyday! We each have a special, loving relationship with our dogs and trust me, they can feel it too. Studies have consistently shown dogs prefer being around their owners and people than other dogs. This is one of the ways canines learn more about their relationship with humans and our habits – by spending time with us. Their perception of humans is formed by reading our expressions, gestures and actions.
Human Expressions
One influence on the relationship between humans and canines is called the secure-base effect. This means that canines see their owners as a secure base when interacting with the environment. This is also similar with the parent-child relationship; Infants see their parents as a base to come back to when they go out and explore the world. In modern psychology this is a canine equivalent to attachment theory. Our dogs begin this relationship through understanding our facial expressions.
Studies suggest that canines begin their emotional relationship with their owners through reading physical expressions. Dogs are able to distinguish between human emotions with their idiosyncratic ability. They can distinguish between when we are happy, sad, or even bothered! Human expressions show many visual subtle cues to animals, but dogs understand us best. This can lead to important decision making when it comes to how they act around humans in general.
Your dog will also notice when you are focused and what you’re focused on. This is due to ostensive cueing, the small body cues and glances we unknowingly give to communicate how we are feeling. For dogs this can be direct gazing or, following the stare of their owners. Canine brains categorize certain expressions and gestures so they can store social cues and information.
Human Gestures
Have you ever wondered why your canine can pick up on a few gestures you make, before you actually make them? This is due to their high social-cognitive trait acquired through domestication.
Domestication occurring over centuries has resulted in canines acquiring sensitivity to gestures such as pointing or raising of the hand. These adaptations lead to canines understanding that they have different perspectives than us. Your dog not only knows that you see the world differently, but that it should adapt to cooperate with the way you live. This explains how your dog starts to pick up your signals, both conscious and subconscious, and understand the meaning behind them. This only gets better as you spend more time with them and get to know each other better.
Human Action
Your dog has impressive social capacities to facilitate learning and understanding basic human actions to evolve their perception. For example, canines have learned to manipulate objects and their bodies; Dogs enjoy moving objects and they know what tricks to do in order to get treats. All those times you tell your dog to sit and proceed to give them a reward actually helps them learn your actions and relate to other ones! This is also known as positive reinforcement in operant conditioning.
More studies have shown that dogs engage in “overimitation,” copying unnecessary human actions . An example of overimitations between canines and their caregivers is seen with family dogs. They tend to do what humans believe is valuable to their culture and embrace that philosophy. Overimitation directly comes from human behavior, as they tend to copy actions, no matter relevance, in order to fit into society (aka social norm). This adaptation highlights your dog’s close bond with you, since they want to understand you better and do what you do!
Summary: Man’s Best Friend
Evolution and domestication led to dogs accruing a special set of skills allowing them to gain deep insight into our state of being. Dogs seem to use our actions and words as social cues to make their own opinions. They use a complex set of neural connections to understand the human-canine relationship. This is why “the dog is a man’s best friend” is a famous phrase commonly used in movies. They have the psychological capabilities to understand us better than any species. Spending quality time with your dog allows both of you to embrace a life-long connection that leads to emotional understanding!
