NEW YORK — By gazing at their owners, dogs can trigger a response in their masters’ brains that helps them bond, a study says. And owners the same in return, researchers say.
This two-way street evidently began when dogs were domesticated long ago because it helped the two species connect, the Japanese researchers found.
As canine psychology experts Evan MacLean and Brian Hare of Duke University wrote in a commentary on the work released Thursday by the journal Science, “When your dog is staring at you, she may not just be after your sandwich.”
The brain response is an increase in levels of a hormone called oxytocin. Studies in people and animals indicate this substance promotes social bonding. In the new research, analysis showed that owners whose dogs looked at them longer had bigger boosts in oxytocin levels. Similarly, dogs that gazed longer got a hormone boost, too.
