Doggie Love Adiction

Posted: 4/20/15

Trigger

Just read Is the Gaze from Those Big Puppy Eyes the Look of Your Doggie's Love? Research finds that sustained eye contact between a dog and its owner causes oxytocin to spike in both—but not so in wolves. What it means remains to be seen.

We learn from the above article (emphasis added):

1. “Increases in β-endorphin (beta-endorphin), oxytocin and dopamine—neurochemicals associated with positive feelings and bonding—have been observed in both dogs and people after enjoyable interactions like petting, play and talking. Essentially, interacting with a dog, particularly a known dog, can have some of the same psychophysiological markers as when two emotionally attached people spend time together.”
2. “The new study, by Miho Nagasawa of Azabu University in Japan and colleagues, builds on Nagasawa’s previous work, published in Hormones and Behavior in 2009, that found owners and dogs sharing a long mutual gaze had higher levels of oxytocin in their urine than owners of dogs giving a shorter gaze.”

Pets By The Numbers

According to the Humane Society:

• “Pet ownership in the U.S. has more than tripled from the 1970s, when approximately 67 million households had pets, to 2012, when there were 164 million [households] owned pets.
  In other words, in 2012, 62 percent of American households included at least one pet.”
• “83.3 million—Number of owned dogs
• 47 percent—Percentage of households that own at least one dog”

What is behind this tremendous increase in pet ownership not only in the U.S., but also in other Western countries like Germany?

Is it misanthropy; longing for more loving relationships; are human relationships not fulfilling; a (nostalgic) return to nature; or drug addiction or some combination?