Your dog understands you when you talk to him, research shows

Science seems to prove the communicative connection between humans and dogs.

Many people have pets, and there is a saying that a dog is a man's best friend.. In fact, those who have lived with a canine will know that people create a deep relationship with these animals.

Dogs and humans often have a special connection, and canines are even there for their owners in bad times. In this sense, there is a type of psychotherapy called assisted therapy, in which dogs are the star animal.

Therapy with dogs can enhance the relational and communication skills of patients, stimulate motor activities, improve social skills, reduce stress and anxiety and improve patients' self-esteem.

• You can learn more about therapy with dogs in our article: "The benefits of therapy with dogs".

Dogs understand us more than we think

Having a dog can change our lives, because they make us have good times, they provide us with company, they are faithful companions and we can even get to converse with them because they can show intelligent behavior. In fact, on a cerebral level there seem to be more similarities than we thought.

These animals have been used in many studies to learn more about learning or intelligence. A clear example is the classical conditioning experiments of Ivan Pavlov or the experiments of Edward Thorndike.

Our relationship with dogs is very different from the one we have with cats, which tend to be more solitary animals and for some even surly and insensitive. According to a study, cats dominate their owners; however, it seems that they love people more than we thought. At least this is what another research indicates.

The results of a survey of the II Scientific Analysis of the Affinity Foundation on the Bond between People and Pets indicate that 71% of dog owners communicate regularly with their pets.. Surely those who have dogs have been able to verify that they seem to listen to us when we talk to them. This is what research carried out by the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom seems to indicate.

How a dog's brain works when we communicate with them

Dogs are well known for having a very fine sense of smell, but also a spectacularly effective sense of hearing. In fact, when we talk to them, they usually pay attention to what we say, especially when they want something, for example, food.

Researchers at the University of Sussex claim that canines understand us when we talk to them. Not only do they listen to our voice, but they also differentiate words. In this sense, these animals seem to have a brain that elaborates language in a similar way to humans..

Dogs use different parts of the brain to process information. On the one hand, the left hemisphere is purely verbal and performs an analysis of the voice, the emotional content of the message, languages, sounds and phonetic content known to them. In addition, dogs use the right hemisphere to process unfamiliar rhythms, languages and sounds. This research involved a sample of 250 dogs, and the results seem to indicate that they understand the content of the messages. The researchers are clear: "domestication has been key to the evolution of dogs' brains to be similar to ours.

However, this study leaves open and unanswered questions, as we do not know how much and to what extent dogs really understand what we feel and the non-verbal language we transmit.

Dogs' memory also appears to be similar to humans' memory

Researchers have found that dogs have similar recall abilities to humans, and remember more and better when there are emotional ties to those memories.

Now, research claims that a dog's emotional competence is like that of a three-year-old child. They can feel emotions similar to humans: happiness, love, anger and, of course, fear. However, according to a study by the University of British Columbia, Dogs may not experience higher-level emotions, such as shame, for example..

It is important to keep this in mind, because we often tend to interpret the actions of companion animals in a way that leads us to humanize almost everything they do. It is true that dogs are not simply robots that simply react to what we do through relatively mechanical and predictable processes, but neither can it be said that they experience their life and relationships as we humans do.

It is quite possible that dogs dogs may well have a certain degree of awareness of themselves and others, but that does not make themBut that does not make them ready to feel or socialize by interpreting what is said to them as accurately and nuanced as we do.

The benefits of owning a dog

Dogs are the pet of choice for many, and their presence can make us really happy. This is what was demonstrated in the II Scientific Analysis of the Affinity Foundation on the Bond between People and Pets, in which a research was carried out that counted 6,000 subjects.

Seventy-four percent of those surveyed said that having a canine as a pet increased their well-being. In addition, 31% said that their dog or cat is more important to them than their friends.

Now then, what are the benefits of having a dog? A dog brings the following advantages:

• Helps exercise: A dog can be an ideal companion for going for a walk.
• Increased social life: Having a dog as a pet not only gets you out of the house, but also allows you to meet new people.
• It is a good therapeutic tool: it improves people's well-being thanks to dog-assisted therapy.
• Improves Cardiovascular health: By promoting the practice of physical exercise improves heart health.
• Reduces stress: This is what scientific studies show.
• It makes you feel safer: The company of a dog also offers security.
• It makes you responsible: Taking care of a pet requires responsibility.

If you want to know more about the benefits of a dog, you can read our article: "10 benefits of having a dog (according to science)".