Dogs are man’s best friends indeed. In all honesty, I am not a person who prefers dogs over other animals. On, the contrary, I am someone who has an infinite amount of love for each and every one of them equally. I mean heck, I have 5 cats, one dog, 3 birds, 2 turtles and the only thing that is missing in my yard is a baby giraffe.
However, I must say that out of all these creatures, dogs are probably the most emotional and overly attached species. Dog owners will know what I am talking about.
You simply cannot own a dog and not get attached to the creature like it’s your child. As much as I want to say the same about my cat, we all know how uncaring and self-reserved they are. That is why our canine friends are not only pets, they are truly our family.
And luckily, we have science to back us up on this.
A 2017 research published on Brill, in the journal of Society and Animals, discovered that people tend to show more empathy towards dogs who are suffering than human beings who are going through pain.
The study involved 265 students who were presented with several fake scenarios which included false police reports of brutal attacks on a 30-year adult, a one-year-old baby, a little puppy, and a six-year-old dog. The reports included graphic descriptions of the physical attacks and depicted the consequences all of the victims suffered.
After the participants read the reports, they were asked to describe their emotional state and measure their degree of empathy towards each subject.
The results were surprising. Or… perhaps not!
After carefully analyzing the data, the researchers found that the participants showed more empathy for the human children, the grown dogs, and the puppies than the adult humans. In other words, they were more concerned about the wellbeing of the dogs and the one-year-old baby than the lives of the adult humans.
So, there you have it!
There’s no doubt that one of the reasons for this finding is because our canine friends mean the world to us. But, in addition to being our great, furry, loyal friends, according to reviews, hanging around these fluff balls is proven to be very beneficial for our health. If that isn’t enough for you, it has also been discovered that they can sense when another person has bad intentions.
Now you know. If you are feeling guilty for loving your dog more than you love some of your friends, don’t. You are not alone. We have your back!
