Tears keep eyes healthy and comfortable. They consist of three parts: lipid (oil), water and mucus. Each of the parts serves its purpose but what we see is the watery part that cleans the eye by extracting foreign particles and dirt from it.
From this definition of what tears are, we can conclude that it is good to cry. It is especially good for dogs to clean their eyes after running or playing outside.
What about emotions?
Tears are communicators, discovering your emotions of empathy, compassion, physical pain or sentiment. Do dogs really feel all of these?
Well, it is difficult for scientists to prove, but from my rescue experience, I would say they do. Let’s inspect this phenomenon together.
Grandpa
It was about 10 years ago when we rescued a very old male boxer from the pound. I was informed that he had been surrendered by his owners a week before. He refused to eat and was sad. No law would make the owners pay a fine or take him back, so no use in calling them again.
Grandpa, as we called him, became our new crew member, the oldest one that taught the others how to behave. He was a fantastic eleven years old dog.
Sharing his story on FaceBook, it reached many people and touched many hearts. People helped with food and vet costs.
One day, I received a call from a young man who said he was Grandpa’s owner. He said he had been abroad, for work, and his parents surrendered poor Grandpa without letting the young man know. He was very annoyed to tell me all of this and asked to see his dog.
The most emotional moment happened that day in the afternoon. The man came and stood at the gate. It took us a while to wake Grandpa up because he was deaf. Once he stood up, he approached his owner, sniffed him a bit and went away. It was obvious that he was mad.
Then, he sat and looked at his owner. By this moment, the owner was already crying, crouching, his hands wide apart waiting for Grandpa to run into his hug.
After a few minutes, we could see watery stains on the concrete floor. Grandpa was crying! We were all crying.
Grandpa cried real tears, the ones consisting of the elements I mentioned above in such an emotional moment.
Nera
All tears hurt, but the tears of the ones that you love the most hurt the most.
Nera was my dog, my best friend, my everything in the world. She took care of my children when I wasn’t at home. Nera loved us with all her heart and was ready to do anything for us.
Nera lived pretty short, but still the average for a Rottweiler. She was about 9 years old when she died. The years we spent together were emotional. We had ups and downs, troubles and happy events and she was everywhere with us. We rarely parted except for work.
When she got sick, it took just a month for her condition to get so worse that she couldn’t recognize us most of the time. She could barely walk and eat. She would whine with pain at night and be a little calmer during the day. It was obvious, we had to help her.
The day we took her to the vet, she felt it. She recognized us and looked me straight in the eyes. I was sorry I hadn’t taken any pill before it to be calm and calm her. She saw me crying and she cried, too.
Take my experience as a lesson. When this time comes, see them off to the bridge calmly. They need to be reassured that they leave us tranquil.
Nera didn’t cry because of her, but she was worried about me and my disturbance. She cried real tears because she loved us.
Dona
I receive a lot of calls from people asking me to help dogs in need. To tell you the truth, I have to make a selection of the most urgent ones because of the lack of space and money.
The description of the dog I was given didn’t sound that urgent. A street dog, big and skinny needed food.
The lady bought some food, put it on the floor for the dog to eat and tried to raise her hand away from the food. Instead of starting to eat as a hungry dog would do, this dog put her head in the lady’s hand and started crying.
The lady took a photo and sent it to me. It could not leave me indifferent because it was obvious that something was wrong.
Dona was brought to the vet that day. She had pyometra and her operation was scheduled for a couple of days after her antibiotic treatment. We also noticed that she had been abused because she would shudder each time we raised our hands to stroke her.
Dona cried real tears but I still can’t conclude if it was an emotional moment for her because of a careful hand or because of the pyometra.
Scientific Explanation
Japanese researchers conducted an experiment after seeing their dog teary-eyed while nursing her puppies.
They measured the amount of tears in normal dogs in regular home situations and compared it to the amount of tears of dogs reunited with their owners after at least five hours of separation.
The result of the experiment showed a significant increase in the volume of tears of the dogs reuniting with their owners. Again, this volume of tears was compared with the volume of tears when reuniting with a familiar person that is not their owner. As one would guess, it was greater than in normal situations but not as much as reuniting with their owners.
The researchers found that tears in dogs are connected with oxytocin release. Oxytocin is released in both dogs and owners during their interaction.
Just to remind ourselves that oxytocin is a hormone produced in the hypothalamus and released by the pituitary gland. It is called a love hormone that is usually associated with our emotional responses, empathy, trust and some aspects of behaviour.
Conclusion
The researchers add that, unlike other animals, dogs have high-level communication abilities with humans using eye contact. Dogs’ tears imply either protective behaviour or nurturing behaviour of their owners. Tears deepen the human-dog relationship.
What’s more, the researchers add that, in this experiment, teary-eyed dogs were 10-15% more attractive to people. The participants in this research said that they would rather care for those dogs with tears.
The research confirms my experience that dogs cry real tears in the same situations that humans do. Their hypothalamus also releases oxytocin which is associated with love emotions just as humans do.
However, it is still not clear if dogs shed tears when communicating with each other. Dog-to-dog communication exists but it’s not proven if tears have any role in it.
You may want to share your experience with dogs’ tears. You can do it through the comments below.
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