Your Stress Could Be Stressing Out Your Dog

New research suggests that a person’s stress levels could directly impact their dog.

The study, conducted by researchers at Queen’s University, Belfast (QUB), found a potential correlation between a dog’s stress levels and its owner’s stress levels.

“The experience of stress, particularly chronic stress, can have deleterious effects on canine behavior and welfare,” the study revealed.

According to BBC, researchers hooked owners and their dogs up to heart rate monitors to measure any changes in heart rate during the study. Half of the owners took part in a stress-reducing exercise while the other half took a “Digital Stress Test” to induce stress.

Through the study, experts found that changes in the owner’s heart rate “significantly predicted” changes in the dog’s heart rate.

“This result is in line with our hypothesis that changes in owner stress levels influence canine stress,” the paper said. “Changes in human stress levels can have an innate and immediate effect on canine indicators of physiological stress.”

This data could assist with situations like vet visits, which can be distressing for many dogs. If owners can calm their own nervous systems, they might be able to calm their dogs down, too.

“By devising strategies to mitigate owner stress in veterinary settings, canine stress may, as a result of reducing owner stress, also be alleviated,” the study reads. “This research highlights the importance of providing dogs with time to acclimatize to the clinic environment to reduce the stress experienced by dogs in these settings, which may, in turn, improve the accuracy of any physical examinations or diagnostics performed.”