Guess this means I'm more than a napkin to my dog
Throughout the day my dog will either poke her snout or wipe her eyes on some part of my body. When we first adopted her, I thought it was her clumsy way of playing. She's a big girl and was never that coordinated. Years later, as she lost her vision, I imagined she was using me as her guidepost. Tapping her wet nose on my leg as she navigated the hallway. Now according to a new study, it might be something a little more than my pant leg being a substitute for a paper towel or sensory beacon.
Wonder why your dog steals items from the laundry, or a missing slipper turns up in their bed? It's because they love you!
A new brain-imaging study using magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) says the parts of a dog's brain associated with pleasure is activated by their owner's scent.
Dog Brains Link Pleasure With Owner’s Scent thus dog encountering its owner’s smell could feel in some way like a person reacting to the perfume or cologne of a loved one, according to study leader Gregory Berns, a neuroeconomist at Emory University in Atlanta.
Boy, I wish that I'd know this when we first adopted our dog Cleo. She had bouts of separation anxiety. A stinky shirt from the gym could have been the best medicine!
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