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  • BBC Science Focus Magazine

    DOES YOUR DOG REALLY LOVE YOU?

    May 11, 2022 6 minutes
    by JULES HOWARD
    by
    JULES HOWARD

    Every morning, as I prepare his food, our black-and-white lurcher, Ozzy, looks up at me with the warmest of eyes. He will give me the eyebrows too. The cutest of smiles. He will cock his head in expectation of food, and seems to know that I will give it to him, devoted as I am.

    “Does he really love me?” I wonder, as he waits patiently for his tripe with his tail wagging furiously. Because sometimes I have the vaguest feeling I am being hustled. Like I am one of Pavlov’s dogs and he is Pavlov, conditioning me with cuddles and baby-faced eyes to do nice things for him.

    Is this love or something else? Can dogs ever really love their humans like we love them? It turns out that questions like these have a rich scientific history, with an exciting conclusion that could forever change our relationship with dogs.

    The story of dogs and emotions begins in the Victorian era, when the question sparked one of the first culture wars in history. It involved

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