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5 Things Your Dog Can Sense In Your Everyday Life

May 28, 2021

Have you ever felt like your dog has a sixth sense? Well, it just might be true! Dogs can sense almost everything from your personal mood to inclement weather around the corner. If you ever thought you were doing a good job at hiding your emotions from your dog, you may want to think again. Dogs have a sneaky way of knowing different aspects of our lives even before we do! We’re outlining five areas of your everyday life that your dogs can sense.

Emotions

Do you ever wonder why or how your dog can read your emotions? From when you’re upset to when you’re angry, you’ll most likely see your dog react accordingly. In a 2009 study, dogs stared at their humans much longer when they were showcasing signs of happiness rather than sad, which in result, captured that a dog may be sensitive to human emotions.

When dogs look into our eyes, it releases their oxytocin hormone which is often called the “love hormone.” In a 2017 study, researchers had used eye-tracking technology to follow a dog’s eye patterns when in response to human faces. What they gathered was that all the dogs looked at the eye region of the human to process the human’s emotion.

The researchers also concluded that the oxytocin levels would decrease the amount of time that dogs looked at angry human faces and also decreased the dog’s likeliness to gaze at the eye region altogether.

Illnesses

Has your dog ever comforted you when you felt sick? If a human is infected with a bacterial or viral illness, they actually smell different. With a dog’s sharp sense of smell and their loyalty to us humans, they can smell changes that humans may not even recognize. Dogs have 300 million olfactory receptors in their nose, while us humans only have about 6 million.

Research also suggests that dogs can detect different types of cancers in humans. Just like other illnesses, cancer can have a specific odor that dogs can sniff out. Dogs can be trained to become “medical detection dogs”, which means they are trained to sniff out and detect certain diseases in humans.

Pregnancy

When a woman is pregnant, a rise in hormone levels usually occurs. There can also be possible hormonal changes over the course of a 9-month pregnancy period. These hormonal changes can again cause changes in a human’s natural body scent. Just like illnesses or disease, dogs may be able to tell when their human mom is carrying a baby. Even if a woman doesn’t realize she’s pregnant yet, she may notice her dog acting differently by showing more attention than usual.

Trustworthiness

Just like children, young dogs often greet just about everyone with enthusiasm and trust. As children and dogs grow older, they start to realize that some people just aren’t that trustworthy. A couple studies conducted by a team lead by Akiko Takaoka of Kyoto University in Japan revealed that dogs will utilize information and only follow commands from people who have shown their trustworthiness during past experiences. It also showed that dishonest people did not make dogs generalize that all humans are unreliable, but that dogs can make judgments about a person’s personality and behavior. Dogs can make distinct perceptions on what people they can or cannot trust! It’s very important to not mislead your dog as it may make your dog second-guess their trust in you.

Weather

Dogs also have very strong sense of hearing, so sharp that dogs can also sense distant thunderstorms before us humans do. They can also sniff out changes in the atmosphere, which is also why you may notice your dog acting differently when they can smell a storm approaching. If you’re anticipating bad weather on the horizon, you may want to watch out for any signs from your dog—they just might have the answer.

If your dog is especially stressed during thunderstorms, you may notice your dog start to showcase nervous behavior. When you notice a thunderstorm in the weather forecast, make sure to administer CBD for pets about an hour before the storm is scheduled to start. CBD may promote calmness and relaxation during stressful situations, such as thunderstorms, fireworks, traveling, and more. By administering your pet’s CBD oil about an hour beforehand, you’re giving it enough time to kick in before the inclement weather starts. It can often be difficult for us humans to predict exactly when a thunderstorm is supposed to begin, so if you see stormy weather on the forecast, administer the CBD throughout the day so your dog is prepared for the unexpected.

Not sure which product to use for your dog’s stress during thunderstorms? Try out our Product Finder to receive a custom product recommendation based on your pet’s age, weight, and stress levels.

Looking to learn more about CBD for situational stress?

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