It is well known that most dogs are cuddly, companionable and very friendly animals. They usually love spending time with their families, meeting new people on the street while taking a walk and, the more sociable their personalities are, the more they tend to stay close to the humans of their life.
In this sense, one of the things that they enjoy the most about spending time with humans is the possibility of being pet: there’s nothing like a warm, soft stroke to make your dog happy, healthy and joyful. But have you ever thought about why dogs like being pet as much as they do? What is it about caresses that make them so cheerful? The fact is that there are many different reasons why dogs like to be pet, and we will tell you more about it here!
It’s all about the energy
When dogs are pet, they feel connected and close to humans, and this is something that is definitely very important for their development due to the social behavior that’s natural to most of them. Petting a dog is a way of transmitting a feeling of closeness and sharing your energy with them. What you can transmit and share with dogs through your soft and gentle petting are feelings of love, caring, comfort and attention.
Does it happen to you that you get a wonderful, warm and cozy feeling when you hug someone you love? Well, that’s also the same kind of feelings and sensations that dogs feel when you pet them! This energy-sharing aspect of petting and stroking dogs is one of the reasons why they like being pet as much as they do.
Petting and emotional bonding
There’s no better way to build a solid and strong emotional bond with dogs than dedicating quality time to pet them. As we mentioned before, petting is a way of transmitting your caring and loving energy to dogs and, while doing this, you are also developing a connection with them.
The same way that you build relationships with other human beings through closeness and physical touch, you also create emotional bonds with dogs through petting them and caressing them. For dogs, it’s very important to get a feeling of physical proximity with the humans that surround them, as a way of forging trust and bonds that will last a lifetime.
Feeling safe and secure
When you pet your dog, you are also transmitting a sense of safety and security. In fact, touching them makes them feel like you really care for them, that you are present, and that they can trust you. It’s also a great way of making them feel confident about your connection and your relationship to them.
In this sense, an essential thing to understand is that it’s very unlikely that your dog will feel anxious or depressed if you are attentive to them and pet them regularly. As with humans, physical contact and closeness is very important for dogs’ mental health and stability, and a lack of touch and proximity can lead to feelings of isolation, depression and anxiety. That’s why we say that, when you take care of petting your dog, you are also contributing to transmitting a sense of safety and security to it, thus contributing to its overall wellbeing and happiness.