Mary Allen
How you can take advantage of the transference of mood when living with a dog
You come home after a stressful day and just want to put your feet up, but pure chaos awaits you behind the front door. Your dog wanted to show you again how to separate waste properly. Your four-legged friend comes running with a crouched posture, ears laid back, and a look that will make you melt. You just reply: “You know exactly what you did wrong!”
But do Our Dogs Really Know That?
Our sensitive four-legged friends feel how we are really doing. We can’t fool you, no matter how well we pretend. They know us very well and feel our mood. They rejoice with us when we have good news, cuddle with us when we are sad and are uncomfortable when we are upset. We call this phenomenon mood transference. Both they can reflect our positive or negative mood, as well as we can assume the excited or relaxed mood of our dogs.
Scientifically Explained Mood Transference
While we understand it to mean a good or bad mood, behavioral biology defines mood as a willingness to act. That is, internal factors contribute to a particular behavior being exhibited. If the dog is thirsty, it runs to the water bowl. He does not judge this as good or bad, but simply performs a certain behavior.
We, on the other hand, evaluate every situation, after which we are either positive or negative. So our dogs sense how we are doing, but they don’t know why we behave the way we do. They also don’t know what they did wrong if the situation happened hours ago. So they can’t understand why we punish them with ignorance or scolding. Because they no longer associate the fact that they sorted the rubbish neatly.
Still, the dog behaves as if he knows what he did wrong. Why is that so? According to a study, dogs display this guilty look as a direct response to our behavior. So it depends on us how we evaluate the situation. If our joy about the dog is greater than the chaos on the living room carpet, then our dog is happy with us. However, if we ignore our dog and are angry about the plundered garbage can, he will withdraw from us, put his ears back, and look at us with his wide eyes, supposedly guilty.
Dogs Show Empathy
There have long been indications that dogs also have what is known as mirror neurons. These nerve cells ensure that the same parts of the dog’s brain are activated when they are just observing an activity rather than doing it themselves. The best example of this is yawning. If we, as the owner, start yawning, it is quite possible that our dog will also show this behavior. So yawning doesn’t always mean the dog is stressed or tired.
Researchers have also discovered that dogs can emotionally empathize with people close to them, i.e. they can develop empathy. Dogs have lived with us humans for centuries. It is therefore quite possible that they can empathize with us to a certain extent, even if not consciously.
Mood Transfer in Dog Encounters
We can use the conscious transmission of mood both in training and in everyday life. Running head-on is a threat for many dogs, which is why they visibly feel uncomfortable in such situations and react with stress reactions, such as sniffing at the side of the path. By changing our posture, our dog’s state of excitement changes, and the dog’s encounter is much more relaxed.
In addition, with these small adjustments, we take the stress out of the situation, because we don’t run head-on towards the oncoming human-dog team, but approach them in an arc. If we remain relaxed, hold the leash loosely in our hands, and look straight ahead and not at the oncoming human-dog team, our dog can assume this relaxed mood.
Dogs Can Mirror Our Behavior
Dogs can take on our moods and mirror our behavior. They are masters at reading our body language, but cannot always classify or understand it correctly. Therefore, pay conscious attention to your current mood and how this is transferred to your dog. Are you in a bad mood and was the walk a complete disaster? Or did you receive good news today and master dog encounters on the walk with your left?
If you become aware of your mood, you can use it specifically in training. You also give your dog security in situations in which he behaves anxiously. But you also create a greater understanding of accepting the situation when the day is not as successful as planned and your dog pulls on the leash accordingly or reacts to dogs.
Take advantage of the mood transference, use it happily in living together with your dog and you will see that some things will change.