Dogs Yawn Contagiously Along With Their Owners, Reveal Empathy

It is well known that yawns are contagious. And a new study proves the old adage right by showing that dogs yawn contagiously along with their owners, revealing a sign of empathy.

The new study conducted by Teresa Romero and colleagues from the University of Tokyo has revealed that dog's yawn more frequently along with their owners than when faced with strangers yawning. The study also reveals how the impulse to yawn can spread from humans to dogs.

Several studies conducted in the past revealed that dogs yawn in response to humans. But it was not clear whether the yawn was a mild stress response or an empathetic response. This study confirms that dogs yawn contagiously along with their owners indicating empathy.

This study was conducted on 25 dogs that included greyhounds, German shepherds, poodles, Pekingese and many more. The study also surveyed the dog owners. The dog owners were asked to yawn at their pets and the researchers noted the frequencies with which the dogs yawned back. The same experiment was repeated again with a slight change. This time the owner was replaced by a stranger.

They noticed that half of the study dogs did not respond to the stranger's yawns indicating dogs were more sensitive to their owner's yawns and appeared oblivious to strangers and fake yawns.  

The researchers placed heart monitors on the dogs during the experiment to check their heart rate.  They noticed no difference in the dog's heartbeats, ruling out the theory that dogs yawn as a stress response.

Lead scientist Dr Teresa Romero, from the University of Tokyo concluded, "Our study suggests that contagious yawning in dogs is emotionally connected in a way similar to humans. Although our study cannot determine the exact underlying mechanism operative in dogs, the subjects' physiological measures taken during the study allowed us to counter the alternative hypothesis of yawning as a distress response."