Research Shows Dog and Owner Heart Rates are Synched

Two hearts beating as one. Nope, not the U2 hit from the 1980s but a scientific study conducted by Finland’s University of Jyväskylä last year. And the results are rather extraordinary. You see, the goal of this research was to better understand not just the emotional connection dogs have with their owners but whether that type of connection extended to an underlying physiological mechanism.

Intrigued? So was ScienceDaily when they recently published the study because it showed that the heart rate variability of a dog and its owner actually do adapt to each other during interaction.

But let’s start at the beginning. Researchers in Finland recruited 30 dog owners and their pets to participate in a study. Now, only dog breeds known to be highly cooperative and super sensitive to human interaction were included. This, to build on previous studies that confirmed certain breeds were particularly tuned in to their owner’s behavior and personality traits. Think Labrador Retrievers, Border Collies, and the like.

The researchers took their cue from the known benefit of an emotional connection between a child and its parent. Affective attachment is critical for an individual’s growth and well-being, and while we all know that dogs and humans share this type of bond, not enough is understood about its physiological effect on the canine world.

So, the team at the University of Jyväskylä decided to study whether the dogs’ physical state also changed in line with that of its owner. And they discovered that it did. There is an interconnected component to the heartbeat intervals (AKA variability) that showed that when the owner’s heart rate variability was high, so was that of their dog. And vice versa.

Now, both heart rates and activity levels between the two were monitored during specific interactions. During resting periods, both the owner’s and dog’s heart rate reflected a more relaxed pace – as you would expect. Similarly, when they were active, their heart rates were in line with one another. This was again, as you might expect. The big “however” was that as researchers continued to monitor these variables, they discovered the strongest connections in terms of heart rate took place in completely different situations. Scenarios where physical exertion or rest/relaxation were not in play.

These findings were something that could not be explained and, according to the researchers, suggests it was the owner/dog emotional bond at that particular time, that was what was synching their heart rates. Not their activity level. All together now… aww!