All our dogs are a bit dim – We used to joke at home. No dogs my parents ever owned would obey or be able to simply fetch a ball. Even though my mother took them to puppy and dog training. But her approach was always: lure the dog somewhere with a treat and if he didn’t do what she wanted – punishment. After all, that worked for her to control her children and the rest of the family. Not having had the privilege of a health mother-daughter bond, I agreed, the dog is stupid.
Lucky, I understand so much more now. The mother-child bond is formed when the two look into each other’s eyes. The mother looks at her baby resulting in Oxytocin release in the infant’s brain. Oxytocin is a hormone that lets the infant want to create a bond, and it gazes back into its mother’s eyes. A positive feedback loop leads to more Oxytocin in the mother’s brain and so the mother-child bond is formed.
Dogs have proven themselves to be helpful to people with PTSD in practice. And science has proven that dogs and humans can also form a bond that is based on Oxytocin release. Like in the mother-child bond, Oxytocin levels raise particularly when dog and owner gaze into each other’s eyes (1). Moreover, when dogs have elevated Oxytocin levels they are more likely to understand human cues (2) which might be the reason why my mother could never train the dogs she owned.
Apart for its role in forming social bond, animal testing also shows that Oxytocin reduces fear and anxiety. Rodents treated with Oxytocin show less fearful behavior. In rodents that means they don’t avoid open spaces as much (3). In humans this can take all different shapes and form: not wanting to leave the house, eating disorders, PTSD. These findings are interesting because thus far Oxytocin is not used to treat anxiety disorders. More studies are needed but it seems like Oxytocin plays a role in lowering stress responses.
So, until your practitionerTM can provide you with a nasal application of synthetic Oxytocin – you can give yourself a boost by gazing into a dogs eyes while it looks back at you. Please only get a dog yourself though if the circumstances you live in allow it. Otherwise befriend a dog from your local animal shelter. Let me know in the comments if you ever had a healthy bond with a dog and did it calm your anxieties?
(1) Intranasal Oxytocin Treatment Increases Eye-Gaze Behavior toward the Owner in Ancient Japanese Dog Breeds (2017) Miho Nagasawa, Misato Ogawa, Kazutaka Mogi, Takefumi Kikusui
(2) Oxytocin enhances the appropriate use of human social cues by the domestic dog (Canis familiaris) in an object choice task (2015) J. L. Oliva, J.-L. Rault, B. Appleton, A. Lill
(3) Behavioral effects of neuropeptides in rodent models of depression and anxiety (2010) Susan Rotzinger, David A. Lovejoy, Laura A. Tan
