In the News: Tails of Marin
For The Love Of A Dog
By Sheri Cardo
I’ve always assumed that my dog Sally is feeling happy when her eyes are soft and shiny, and her mouth is open and smiley. After hearing Patricia McConnell, PhD, talk about dogs and emotions, I know that I’m right. McConnell, a certified applied animal behaviorist, was in town last week speaking at Book Passage about her new book, “For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend.” Many dog lovers are already familiar with her earlier work, “The Other End of the Leash.”
McConnell is a scientist. She received her Ph.D. in zoology by studying animal behavior and is now a professor at the University of Wisconsin. She also owns her own dog behavior consulting business. In other words, if she says dogs have emotions — and that dogs express emotions more than any other animal except for chimpanzees — you can darn well believe it.
As a scientist, she offers proof. Just as researchers are now able to quantify some emotions in people by imaging their brains, they can do the same with dogs. Indeed, most of those studies started with dogs before moving to humans. Why? Because dogs share with humans the same basic brain structure that creates emotions. They also have the same neurotransmitters and hormones coursing through their systems, which have much the same effect on their emotions as on ours.
“We are emotionally connected to dogs at our limbic systems — perhaps that’s why we love them so much,” says McConnell.
She is also quick to note that there are substantial differences between human and canine brains. “I’m definitely not comparing our complicated inner lives to those of dogs,” she laughs.
But emotions in dogs do deserve a lot of attention and the emotional connection between humans and dogs is not trivial, she asserts.
Consider this. Studies have been done comparing peoples’ facial expressions around the world. Turns out, no matter where you go — from Marin County, California to the top of the Eiffel Tower, from the Gobi Desert to the forests of New Guinea, homo sapiens everywhere understand a smile as a smile and a frown as a frown. Facial expressions are cross-cultural — though the frequency of their use is not.
“Americans have Labrador faces! We’re good at expressing emotions,” says McConnell.
She explains that facial expressions cross species as well, at least where humans and dogs are concerned. Forget trying to read a dog by the tail — you’ll be much more successful if you concentrate on the face because basic emotions look the same on dogs’ faces as they do on ours. Here are some examples of the similarities we share:
· Happy: Partially open mouth, corners of mouth pulled upward and back, warm and squinty eyes
Unhappy: Centers of eyebrows move down and toward each other in a frown, closed mouth
Anxious: Lip licking, big and round eyes, yawning, tense face, head turned away
Angry: Closed mouth, tight jaw, cold eyes, hard stare, overall stiffness
Disgust: Raised upper lip (like a grimace), squinty eyes, head turned away, wrinkled nose
“Part of the reason our species get along so well is because we’re both so social,” says McConnell. It’s no coincidence that highly social mammals like people and dogs have highly expressive faces. If you live in a tight-knit group, other members need to be able to predict how you feel and what you might do.
“At their best, dogs make us happy,” concludes the author. “At our best, we make them happy, too.”
Patricia McConnell, PhD, will speak extensively on this subject at a conference at the Marin Humane Society on November 12. For more information, visit www.puppyworks.com.
Sheri Cardo is the public information director at the Marin Humane Society.
Tails of Marin appears every Saturday in the Home & Garden section of the Marin Independent Journal
