“Yawning is contagious, you catch it like the flu, when someone yawned near me today, I started yawning too…” Then I passed it on to the dog?As you may well already be aware your dog is prone to yawning. But here’s a little bit of info about those cheeky contagious yawns and the deep set behaviour of your pooch.
There are moments in your life where you may well think that perhaps you’re stepping into the realm of slightly crazy; where the tilt of your puppies head seems to imply that they know what you’re thinking. Times when a paw on your arm is a comforting gesture. Fear not, according to research into dog’s behaviour and yawning, it’s been proved that dogs are empathic.
Yawning is known to be contagious in humans but now scientists have shown that pet dogs can catch a yawn, too. The copying activity suggests that canines are capable of empathising with people, say a team of researchers from Birkbeck College, University of London who recorded dogs’ behaviour in lab tests.
By placing a selection of dogs in front of strangers the team found that 21 out of 29 dogs would yawn in response to the stranger in front of them yawning. Even better, when there was no yawning ‘cue’ and during a period of time spent with the stranger when they didn’t yawn, not one of the dogs yawned.
So there you have it. Yawning is contagious for humans, close primates and now dogs; meaning that your dog is capable of empathising with you. Perhaps that’s why they call them man’s best friend?
