Valentine’s Day is upon us, have you ever wondered if even dogs can fall in love? Or is the romantic scene we’ve seen millions of times in Lady and the Tramp a pure and simple cartoon story?
Several researches have shown that even dogs can experience feelings like love, not only towards their human parents but also towards dogs or other animals. However, it is a different type of feeling from the idea of love that human beings have, certainly dogs do not have any idea about passion or romance.
Love between dogs
Dog love exists! It has been demonstrated that the oxytocin hormone, commonly called the “love hormone”, is activated when dogs meet another individual of their species.
In some cases, it has even been noted that the amount of oxytocin released into the blood reaches a level almost equivalent to that present in human beings when they fall in love. It is therefore scientifically proven that even dogs can fall in love and experience feelings comparable to love.
How dogs fall in love
The kind of emotion dogs feel towards their fellow humans is comparable to the kind of feelings a small child can have. It is a pure, innocent and above all unselfish type of affection. The more time two dogs bonded by this feeling spend together, the more they will tend to establish a deep relationship.
Dogs in love behavior
The different behaviors of dogs in love depend on the situations and age. There are some attitudes related to the “courtship” phase, like kisses, smelling each other and contact request. Others, on the other hand, are dictated by the desire to mate.
Just like humans, dogs too can suffer out of love. They could show sadness or even refuse food and cry because they miss their “lover”.
However, we must not confuse the feeling of affection of dogs with their survival instinct, which leads them to mate out of necessity.
Dogs also fall in love with humans
Dogs not only fall in love with other dogs, but they are also likely to fall in love with members of their “human” family.
Dogs are usually closely related to a particular person in the family group and tend to recognize him as their only true master. Your four-legged friend will never lose sight of this person and will be the one that always represents his point of reference.