In recent years, multiple studies have illustrated the ways people's dogs can provide comfort, calm their frazzled nerves, be good listeners, and provide other forms of valuable support, proving that sometimes words are simply not necessary.
When people were asked to perform mental arithmetic (算术) or endure a "cold pressor" test in which their hand is submerged in ice water, those who had their dogs present had smaller increases in their blood pressure and heart rate. More recently, a study in a 2023 issue of the journal Emotion had people engage in a stressful task—involving adding numbers that flashed on a computer screen—then interact with their pet dog, color in a coloring book, or wait quietly for 10 minutes. Those who interacted with their dogs experienced a greater boost in mood and a greater reduction in anxiety than those who waited or tried to destress by coloring.
Research has also found that talking to your dog about emotionally fraught issues can be particularly beneficial. People are more willing to confide (吐露) in their dogs about difficult emotions, such as depression, jealousy, anxiety, apathy, and fear, than they are with their romantic partners or friends. The precise reasons for this may be that pets are good, nonjudgmental listeners because they don't interrupt or reply. Your relationship with your dog is a safe space because your dog won't judge you or disagree with you.
A study in a 2022 issue of the International Journal of Public Health found that when people interact with their dogs while teleworking, it replenishes the humans' self-regulatory resources—by engaging in micro-breaks to pet their pup, the people are able to relax and refresh themselves—in ways that interacting with unfurry family members doesn't.
"Dogs are fantastic at reading us—they can sense when we're upset—and they are arguably better at reading us than some people are," says Kogan, a professor in the clinical sciences department at Colorado State University, "because we intuit that our dogs read us so well, we regulate ourselves so as not to upset our dogs, which is helpful for us as well. It's a positive feedback loop."