London - They hold the undisputed title of man’s best friend. But scientists believe the bond between dogs and their owners may be even deeper than we had thought.
Although it has been shown that dogs can empathise with humans, no studies have explored the level of mental processes behind the unique relationship.
It may be that dogs possess certain human-like social skills that even chimpanzees, our closest relatives, do not, the experts say.
Researchers at the University of Porto, in Portugal, believe dogs respond even beyond the ability to react to people’s emotions, which is known as “emotional contagion”.
Dr Karine Silva said: “A study showing that dogs behave as ‘upset’ as children when exposed to familiar people faking distress strongly suggests sympathetic concern.
“Also, it has been reported that untrained dogs may be sensitive to human emergencies and may act appropriately to summon help, which, if true, suggests empathic perspective taking.”
The researchers believe there are three main reasons for dogs empathising with humans:
* Dogs originated from wolves which have developed empathy towards other species.
* Biological changes as dogs were domesticated mean empathy towards man has been fine-tuned over generations.
* And breed selection for increasingly difficult tasks, such as herding and helping with disabilities, has led to more complex understanding of human emotion, say the researchers in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
The relationship seems to work both ways. Separate research has found that many of us find the death of a pet as traumatic as losing a relative or friend, with dog owners worst affected.
More than one in four said it was as difficult as the death of a family member. One in three likened it to saying goodbye to a close friend, a survey for The Co-operative Pet Insurance found. - Daily Mail