Shelter Dog Meal Donation Count:

3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
Learn More

Science Explains Why Hearing A Dog Cry Can Break Your Heart

| August 26, 2019

Dog parents: If the sound of a whimpering pup makes your heart melt like a wet Wicked Witch, you’re not alone.

A new study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science found that dog parents find the sound of a crying dog equally as sad as the cries of a human baby.

For the study, 500 young adults listened to the sounds of dogs whining, cats meowing, and human babies crying. What researchers found overall was that people who lived with a cat or dog were more sensitive to the sounds of dog crying than those who didn’t, and that both dog and cat parents rated the sound of whimpering dogs more negatively than the sound of meowing cats.

In fact, all participants regardless of whether they were pet parents or not rated dog cries as more negative than cat meows.

In other words, dogs more effectively communicate distress to humans than cats do, and people who are pet parents are more likely to have a high emotional sensitivity to those sounds.

According to researchers, a lot of this has to do with the different in the way dogs and cats were domesticated. Dogs are more dependent on humans, whereas cats who domesticated themselves are more self-reliant. Not all meows indicate distress. That makes the sad-sounding cries of human-dependent dogs more emotionally effective.

“For sounds that we need to respond to, like a dog that is utterly dependent on its human host for food and care, it makes sense that we find these sounds emotionally compelling,” says Christine Parsons, Associate Professor at Aarhus University in Denmark and co-author of the study.

“This difference in animal dependence may explain why dog whines are rated as more negative than cat meows by all adults, including cat owners. Dogs may simply have more effective distress signals than cats,” noted Katherine Young, a lecturer at King’s College London and senior author of the study.

“It might also explain why we find interacting with pets so rewarding, and are emotionally impacted by both positive communication signals, like purring and negative, like meows or whines,” Parsons added.

No wonder we call them our fur babies. We’re basically hard-wired to want to care for them, and what’s better is that it makes us feel great!

The study also noted little difference between dog and cat parents and anyone else in terms of psychological health, but I’m not sure about that. Being around my dog always makes me feel better!

H/T: Bustle

Recent Articles

Interested in learning even more about all things dogs? Get your paws on more great content from iHeartDogs!

Read the Blog

Loading Checkout...

United StatesClose
Flag of United States
Powered by
duty and tax information for United States

Looks like your ad blocker is on.

×

We rely on ads to keep creating quality content for you to enjoy for free.

Please support our site by disabling your ad blocker.

Continue without supporting us

Choose your Ad Blocker

  • Adblock Plus
  • Adblock
  • Adguard
  • Ad Remover
  • Brave
  • Ghostery
  • uBlock Origin
  • uBlock
  • UltraBlock
  • Other
  1. In the extension bar, click the AdBlock Plus icon
  2. Click the large blue toggle for this website
  3. Click refresh
  1. In the extension bar, click the AdBlock icon
  2. Under "Pause on this site" click "Always"
  1. In the extension bar, click on the Adguard icon
  2. Click on the large green toggle for this website
  1. In the extension bar, click on the Ad Remover icon
  2. Click "Disable on This Website"
  1. In the extension bar, click on the orange lion icon
  2. Click the toggle on the top right, shifting from "Up" to "Down"
  1. In the extension bar, click on the Ghostery icon
  2. Click the "Anti-Tracking" shield so it says "Off"
  3. Click the "Ad-Blocking" stop sign so it says "Off"
  4. Refresh the page
  1. In the extension bar, click on the uBlock Origin icon
  2. Click on the big, blue power button
  3. Refresh the page
  1. In the extension bar, click on the uBlock icon
  2. Click on the big, blue power button
  3. Refresh the page
  1. In the extension bar, click on the UltraBlock icon
  2. Check the "Disable UltraBlock" checkbox
  1. Please disable your Ad Blocker
  2. Disable any DNS blocking tools such as AdGuardDNS or NextDNS

If the prompt is still appearing, please disable any tools or services you are using that block internet ads (e.g. DNS Servers).