Is It Just Instinct? How Animals Can Tell When We’re Not Feeling Well

Many of us prefer to avoid the inevitable. We seek to ignore it through out demeanor that there’s something happening to us. We’d downplay the situation. But could you really lie to an instinctually-born creature like a dog?

Because of what they’ve been through, rescue animals may be even more attuned if there’s something amiss. They seem to forget about their little exploring activities, & instead seek to spend more times by our side.

Not necessarily something external which they can more readily attest to. It’s more like trying to figure out what’s going on inside of us when they can sense we’re going through some inner pain. The more domesticated, the more our pup is attuned to our subtle behavior changes; even more serious ones.

New microorganisms in our usual bioflora changes our body’s smell, thus alerting our sniffing-friendly pooch. Many times it includes noticing before we do, & hopefully leading us to take appropriate action. That’s the difference 300,000,000 olfactory nerves could make vs. 6,000,000 for us.

Most everything that goes through our minds produce, for better or worse, a release of neurochemicals. These are designed for intra-body communication, but canines pick up on that. Ditto for even subtle voice fluctuations. Speech inflections have the capacity to excite a dog if they’re high-pitched.

While the jury is out on whether canines would know there’s something ‘wrong’, they nevertheless sense a difference from the usual. It may be suspicion or being curious. Whatever it is, they’d rather keep closer to us & thus learn more about this new-for-them situation.

This could turn into what other humans may asses as hyper-vigilance to us on our pet’s part. But they mean well. At the end of the day, it’s just an unexpected instinctual guardianship being expressed. That may mean trying to keep other humans away from getting closer that the pup itself.

As through time humanity has seen all these dog varieties that could come from the original wolf, so has the canine-human attachment grown. That would explain the accuracy of detecting some cancers, as well as diabetes, Parkinson; even malaria. Oxytocin is also released in both owner & pet through bonding.

Depending on the breed, some dogs would be more attuned to subjective changes. Others would make up for their lack of not being as discerning, by fiercely ‘protecting’ you from others (even one’s own spouse). These would also provide added warmth to one’s body by insisting on falling asleep there.

When I think about those little fierce territorial animals that may be up to this, a chichuahua comes to mind. Still remember watching how these un-wolves try to make up in aggressiveness what they lack up in size. They were aptly called ‘chihuahuas from hell’ (but I’m sure they meant well).

So, next time you’re tempted to start feeling annoyed at your nudging little animal buddy, pay attention instead.