We are not exactly sure how long ago us hoomans started domesticating dogs, but some researchers believe our friendship could go back as far as 40,000 years. Wow! 40,000 years of doggie love... Ever since, these pawsome pals have continued to grow alongside humanity.

We all know that dogs love their hooman families. But why? It is interesting to know that the hormone oxytocin - also known as the cuddle hormone - is released in both - dogs and people - when they interact with someone they like. This ‘cuddle hormone’ somehow helps to cement and increase the bond we share. Oxytocin, by the way, is also the hormone that floods the system of new mommies to create a bonding with the new babies.

Actually, just the scent of their hooman is enough to make a dog really happy. A 2015 study in the journal Behavioural Processes found that dogs connect their owner’s unique smell to pleasure. By utilizing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans — which measure brain nerve cell levels — the researchers got an inside look at how dogs responded to their hoomans’ scent, scents of strangers or scents of other dogs. The team found that when the pups smelled their owners, it activated a reward centre in their brain called the caudate nucleus. Yet they didn’t react the same to any other scent. As you probably have noticed with your own fur-child, doggies respond really excitedly when we talk to them in that cooochie-coochie voice, normally reserved for babies. A research was done on this curious fact and it is true, doggies respond more positively to dog-directed speech (DDS) than when we talk to them just like people. In this study scientists had 37 dogs listen to people talking to them in “doggie-voice”, coupled with “dog-relevant” phrases like “Who’s a good doggie? Who wants a cookie?” Participants would then talk to dogs in a flat and ordinary voice, just telling ordinary things like “I went to the movies last night. The weather is so nice...” The outcome? The 37 dogs overwhelmingly preferred doggie-talk!   There is long way to go, for us hoomans to really understand these special friends in our life, but we do know one thing for sure: Dogs are just amazing and we’re better hoomans because of them!