Dogs shed tears of joy when reuniting with owners: study

Dogs shed tears of joy when they reunite with their beloved owners after spending several hours apart, a recent study by a Japanese research team has found.

As if dogs could get any more awesome.

Dog willing, those in positions of power and influence in human society, who exhibit so many characteristics un-doglike, could learn from dogs and become true "public servants".

Good Lord! Can't they find more useful things to research?

(it’s like) Ricky Gervais said: There’s nothing more beautiful than a dog.

My little mutt just gets over exited and pees herself after any absence from me.

I think that a positive sign....maybe shes' just passive aggressive.

BertieWoosterToday  07:12 am JST

Good Lord! Can't they find more useful things to research?

....whatever brings in the 'research' funds Bertie, is the name of the game. doesn't have to be useful, or sensible... 'proving' things that people already know, is a favourite...... scientific you know. （⌒▽⌒）

Eye contact fosters a powerful, emotional connection between two living things.

Although animals have been known to shed tears to protect their eyes, this is the first time it has been confirmed that dogs can also cry as an emotional response, said Miho Nagasawa, assistant professor of animal behavior at Japan's Azabu University who contributed to the study.

This brought tears to my eyes, but good tears though. Same with GuruMick, my dog tends to pee when they're excited, probably the same with humans, with some people having a need to go to the toilet when they're excited. Good article and good study.

Interesting! The study deserves an Ig Nobel prize.

I love my dog Boycie.

And this is news. Right...

I’m getting sick of cleaning my dogs eyes every morning. We sleep on the second floor, he on the first. He misses us even for several hours.

A lot of owners shed tears of joy, too. When I was a very young kid, coming home from school and being greeted by my ever-faithful dogs was the highlight of the day. Those days are a half of a lifetime away but still strong in my mind and are remembered very fondly.

Eye contact fosters a powerful, emotional connection between two living things.

too bad japanese people generally avoid looking people in the eye

Such wonderful creatures.

How about pet cats? They are self-centred, don't care about their owners' absence (except when they are fed timely). They sometimes disturb work at home. They have no loyalty. They hunt bugs or mice and bring them to the owner for bragging. It is the owners who shed tears (of joy?) when reunited :)

Any prolonged absence would result in my dog humping my leg til it went numb. Interesting also how dogs seem to equate faux sex with love.

Dog/cat joke.

The dog see's it's owner feeding , bathing , housing and playing with it.

Dog thinks "She must be a God "

The cat see's it's owner feeding, bathing, housing and playing with it.

Cat thinks "I must be a God "

People do realize dogs domesticated early humans to provide them with food, housing, water, comfort and entertainment. So it’s most probable they taught the early hunter/gather humans emotions. This needs further research.

how abt to solve issue what was first-chicken or egg?

Human blood pressure goes down when petting a dog. And so does the dog’s.

I've always believed this on my own without any scientific evidence. Especially after seeing many "tiny" dogs get so happy they pee all over uncontrollably.

Dogs: "My best friend is home, my best friend is home, my best friend is home, my best friend is home.....!!!

Cats: "The servants finally returned..."

:))

How about pet cats? 

They have that "who are you? I think I've met you before" look after not seeing the owner for two weeks.

Results may vary.

I’d never had a cat until I got a cat. All I knew was dogs. So I treated her like a dog; sit, come, stay, fetch, drop it, shake a paw.

The result is a clicker-trained cat that, other than having no interest whatsoever in going for a walk, is basically a dog. When I go out she waits in the entrance hall for me to come home. When I sit in my chair she sits next to me or on me. When I’m cooking, she’s there in the kitchen supervising.

When I go to bed she’s at the foot of the bed.

The fog, meanwhile, does his own thing.

Good Lord! Can't they find more useful things to research?

How do you know this is not useful? in many fields, but specially in life sciences, things researched seems superfluous and irrelevant, until the become the basis for huge advances that could not be possible without those "useless" details that were found before.

...whatever brings in the 'research' funds Bertie, is the name of the game. doesn't have to be useful, or sensible... 'proving' things that people already know, is a favourite...... scientific you know. （⌒▽⌒）

Researching things that "people already know" is precisely what let scientist confirm if that knowledge is actually correct or not. A lot of things "already known" are false or imprecise. And characterizing even what was correct can allow extremely useful things in the future, precisely because nobody can predict if any specific piece of knowledge will ever be part of and advancement or not. Knowing and detailing something is always better than not doing it, at least on science.

Good Lord! Can't they find more useful things to research?

japanese children 14yrs or under…19 million.

japanese dogs…21 million.

I think this research is justified.

Hats off. Those non-humans teach important life lessons of fidelity. Some say, when it comes to trust and loyalty, they are far ahead of humankind.