Do dogs pick up on people's energy?

Dogs read body language. They literally read the energy of the room, of people, of other animals, then reflect that energy back. The dogs in our lives are constantly giving us feedback about the energy levels we are putting off. We are constantly giving off energy as long as we are alive. And as long as we have dogs in our lives, those dogs are acting as a big-ole reflection for us. In other words, if you are always late and stressed and anxious and chaotic, your dog will show those symptoms. If you are calm, take time to be present with your family, get out of your own head and live fully in the moment with your animals, and live life intentionally, then your dogs are going to show symptoms of that. The energy of your dog is an overall reflection of the average energy of your life and home over a period of time. Sometimes our dogs are simply acting as a warning light, they have the ability to show us where we need to change our ways, take our power back, and start living life from anew vantage point.

Pet parents know very well that dogs have an extraordinary ability to read human emotions, but in recent years this hunch has been backed by scientific research. In fact, numerous studies have found that dogs use three main senses – sight, smell, and hearing – to determine human emotions. Dogs can read our facial expressions: Dogs can recognize six basic emotions – anger, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise, and disgust – and process these in similar ways as humans, with changes to heart rate and gaze. Dogs can smell our emotional changes: Due to their elevated sense of smell, dogs are highly sensitive to changes in our body odor that are undetectable to other humans. Dogs can smell the chemical changes that occur when we feel different emotions, such as happiness or anger, and this impacts their response. Dogs can hear the differences between our emotions: Dogs are also able to understand the emotional tones of our voices – particularly the difference between positive and negative sounds. Researchers would say the answer to this question is a resounding yes! Not only does this mean that our dogs can connect with us emotionally, but it also makes them exceptionally well-suited for work as service dogs. Like humans, dogs take into account the inputs from several senses to understand how a human is feeling and then respond accordingly. Thanks to the numerous studies that have been conducted on this topic, it’s safe to say that dogs can sense human emotions – especially those of their close human companions.