You might be expecting your dog to do one of those cute moves when you cry such as bringing you a cute toy, petting their paws on your back, or putting their head on your lap in an adorable way.
However, most dog owners get surprised when their dog ignores, leaves, or even bites them when they see their owner cry, even though all of these are more common reactions than you might expect, but it’s normal to wonder why they do it considering how we treat our dogs like kids most of the time.
It kinda feels like kicking you when you are already down, so let’s find out why your dog behaves that way when you are in emotional distress.
So, why does my dog bite me when I cry? Dogs might bite you when you cry to distract you from crying, they usually use their mouth and tail to communicate with you, or they tried many things to distract you and nothing worked till biting you, perhaps they are not biting but trying to grab you to go outside with them.
If you want to know if dogs react when we cry or why your dog bites when you cry, just keep in reading.
Do Dogs React When You Cry?
Yes, dogs react when we cry, they are highly receptive to their owners crying, they will also try to comfort and make you feel better in any way such as give you a ball to play with them, try to make you go outside even if they heard you cry through any barrier they will break it to get to you.
Dogs can combine hearing and sight to match angry and happy humans faces with angry and happy vocalizations which means that dogs can distinguish the negative sound of crying from the positive sound of laughing.
We have six basic emotions that we can recognize from vocalizations, anger, surprise, anger, sadness, fear, happiness, and disgust, a new study is investigating to see if dogs can recognize all six from just vocalizations.
They tested 30 dogs, the dogs were given food in a bowl in the center of the testing room.
Two speakers were spaced evenly spaced on either side of the bowl.
So that means that the dog is at an equal distance from each speaker, while each dog was eating, one of the speakers played nonverbal human sounds, so if they wanted to make a happy sound they would laugh, and if they wanted to make a sound of fear they would scream.
They videotaped the reaction of the dogs and the result was that dogs tend to process emotionally positive sounds with their left side of the brain and emotionally negative sounds with the right one.
So that means if the dog turned to the sound that’s coming from the left side, it indicates that they are processing that sound with the right side of their brain “the negative” and the result showed that dogs turned to the left for the sound of sadness and fear.
Why Your Dog bites You When You Cry
Some dogs tend to bite their owners when they cry to redirect their attention if they do it while wagging their tail very swiftly, it means that they want to distract you from crying but if they do it while wagging their tail slowly then it means that they detected the changes in your body and responding to it.
They might also make noises while wagging their tail slowly, which means that they are trying to console you, if your dog sits after he bites you and makes eye contact then they are definitely trying to console you.
Why Does My Dog attack me When I cry?
If your dog attacks or bites you when you cry then they are trying to console you, dogs have many tricks to distract their owners when they feel that they are in emotional distress such as biting their owner gently, giving them their favorite toy, and attacking them.
Do Dogs Sympathize with us when we cry?
Yes, not only do dogs sympathize with us when we cry but they also show empathy and to anyone not just their owner so yes, if they see a stranger cry, they will do the same thing.
According to a new study that was published in the journal Learning and behavior, dogs are responsive to the sound of humans crying and if your dog detects their owner crying they will rush to comfort them and they will overcome any barrier to do it.
If your dog is compassionate even around strangers then you may want to allow them to express their sweet nature to those in need and you can consider the option that your dog can act as a therapy dog and their vet will be able to help you with that or a local dog trainer.
However, different dogs can respond to our crying in vastly different ways. I’ve written different posts on each of the common responses to our crying as follows;
Check out why some dogs lick us when we cry here.
Find out why some dogs will leave when you cry here.
Discover why your dog may even avoid you when you cry here.
If you liked this article, you can share it with your friends and family, it may help them out and we are very grateful for any support in advance.
Related Questions
Why does my dog ignore me when I cry?
They might be confused, it’s more likely if it’s the first time you cry in front of them, they may think that they are the reason why you are crying, they are anxious, or they are giving you space till they feel that you are ready for their company.
Do Dogs know what their owners are feeling?
Yes, dogs do know what their owners are feeling, they can even guess what their owner feelings going to be, for example, if they did something wrong they know what look is going to be on your face when you see it, even if they are not sure what you are feeling, they will make sure to provide you with comfort.
How Do Dogs comfort their owners?
Dogs can comfort their owners by outstretching their paws on their hands, putting their heads on their lap, licking their hand or face, dropping a ball at their feet to encourage them to go outside with them, or giving them their favorite toy.
Helpful Resources
A new study shows dogs will comfort their humans when they’re sad
