Humans are social creatures, and the key to this may be our ability to experience empathy. Empathy allows us to enhance social bonds and create relationships.

A phenomenon known as rapid facial mimicry may help explain how this works. Rapid facial mimicry is the reaction most hominids have to the emotions of others. When we see a smile, a frown or even anger, our facial muscles quickly configure to match the expression we observe. This reaction usually takes place within one second of the observation and allows us to actually feel the emotion we’ve viewed.

Recent research along these lines has validated something dog lovers around the world have
always known. Empathy and the ability to create social bonds are not limited to humans and their counterparts. It appears that our furry canine companions share this aptitude for building relationships —   not just with their human families, but with one another as well.

How Dogs React to Their Canine Friends

Two neuroimaging studies conducted in 2014 showed that dogs react neurologically to both the scent and vocal sounds of their owners, highlighting the unique bond between people and their pets. These findings are backed up by behavioral research that shows dogs’ connections with their humans actually resemble those between a parent and child.

Now, new findings from evolutionary biologist Elisabetta Palagi of the University of Pisa, illustrate that dogs also exhibit social bonding and rapid mimicry behaviors during interactions with one another.

The research took place in a Palermo dog park where Palagi and her colleagues collected over 50 video hours of dogs whose owners had agreed to let them be part of the experiment. The dogs were allowed to interact freely so the team could observe their natural behavior.

The footage was then analyzed to identify pre-determined typical play behavior, such as a “relaxed open mouth” and the “play bow.” It also established when a second dog emulated the first upon spotting these actions. The criteria for the study required the second dog to react within one second of noticing the behavior to be identified as rapid mimicry.

Their findings included the following:

●     When dogs engaged in rapid mimicry, their play sessions lasted longer than when this behavior was not present.

●     As with humans, dogs with a prior relationship (interacting with one another at least three times a week) exhibited more mimicry behavior than those who interacted less than twice a month and those who had never interacted.

●     Familiarity affected the extent of rapid mimicry, indicating that dogs, like humans, are more in tune with their friends.

●     The frame-by-frame recording shows one of the dogs even mimicking the expression of a playmate during the experiment.

So What Does This Mean?

While we consider dogs to be part of our family, it’s going to be a long time until a dog’s intelligence is completely understood. For example, some breeds have a greater natural tendency toward intelligence, such as Border Collies and Poodles. Understanding a dog’s intelligence is important because it opens the door for emotional and service dogs to come with their humans to traditionally off-limits places like commercial real estate buildings (office buildings, stores, and flex buildings).

It’s probably safe to say that dogs exhibit some forms of social behavior, but these outcomes also raise questions related to their ability to experience empathy. And while most dog owners would already attest to this ability in their pooch, more research is needed to corroborate it from a scientific standpoint.

Regardless of the outcome, most people today see their canine friends as much more than just pets. These and future studies may just concur that their intelligence and emotional IQ are far more complicated than we have previously been led to believe — but may have already known.

Megan Wild loves dogs of all shapes and size, and advocates their inclusion into our everyday lives. She also writes about home decor ideas for dogs on her blog, Your Wild Home.