photos by Tom Grotta
According to Prevention magazine, http://www.prevention.com/homepage, locking eyes with your dog produces the happiness hormone, oxytocin, in your bloodstream. Various studies have implicated oxytocin, which is produced by the pituitary gland at the base of the brain, in human and animal bonding behavior. Experiments have found that just sniffing oxytocin will increase a person’s trustfulness of others. A group of Japanese scientists measured oxytocin levels in dog owners’ urine after the owners spent several minutes gazing at their pets.The investigators found increases in the hormone level that were highly correlated to “the frequency of behavioral exchanges initiated by the dog’s gaze,” according to the research journal Hormones and Behavior (December 2009) http://www.journals.elsevier.com/hormones-and-behavior. Here is a sampling of the soulful gazes that make my owners melt.
