It has long been recognised that caring for dogs lowers the stress hormone cortisol in humans, but a new study has found dogs may actually take their owners’ stress on board, becoming stressed themselves.
The new study, conducted by researchers at Queen’s University Belfast, shows that changes in an owner’s heart rate can predict changes in their dog’s heart rate.
The research team from the School of Biological Sciences set out to investigate whether changes in owner stress levels influenced canine stress in a novel environment, for example in a veterinary setting.
A total of 28 dog owners were fitted with HR monitors and exposed to either a stress-inducing digital test or stress-relieving guided meditation. The heart rates of the pets were also safely monitored throughout this period.
Owners reported an increase in stress levels following the completion of the digital stress test, compared to their stress levels before the test.
In addition, in line with the study design, there was a trend for a decrease in reported stress levels in the group which completed a period of guided meditation.
The study showed changes in owners’ heart rates predicted subsequent changes in their dogs’ heart rates. Researchers concluded the result indicates dogs are responding to the stress levels of their owners.
Dr Gareth Arnott, reader in Animal Behaviour and Welfare from the School of Biological Sciences at Queen’s, said dogs “may have the ability to display emotional contagion, which is the mirroring of emotion, and social referencing, eg looking for cues to inform their reaction to a situation, towards their owners in novel settings”.
Vet Aoife Byrne, who carried out the research, said the study “underlines the importance of incorporating methods to mitigate owner stress in veterinary settings, as this has the potential to also reduce the stress experienced by their dogs”.
