He wags his tail, jumps on you with two front feet, calls for petting or a kiss with a look in the eyes. Familiar to all dog lovers? 

Definitely. And this loving affection is so powerful that it is being applied to – we could say – the worst among us. 

Eye-eye gazing between a dog and its owner may work in the same way as between a mother and her baby through a burst of oxytocin, according to a top Japanese pet scientist.

Oxytocin or “love hormone” is activated when a mother breastfeeds her baby. This hormone also produces in the body when dogs and their owners gaze at each other, according to Professor Takefumi Kikusui at the School of Veterinary Medicine at Azabu University in Japan.

In his experiment, the Professor and his team found mutual gazing to have had a profound effect on both the dogs and their owners. Of the duos that had spent the greatest amount of time looking into each other's eyes, both male and female dogs experienced a 130% rise in oxytocin levels, and both male and female owners a 300% increase.

The scientists saw no oxytocin increase in the dogs and owners who had spent little time gazing at each other And we cuddle our dogs lovingly.

That isn’t all. Prof Kikusui and his team have gone a step with an experimental social connection. Inmates at correction facility are organized to raise puppies that are candidates to become guide dogs.

They raise the puppies from the age of about four to five months until their first birthday. In the programme, one puppy is cared for by four or five inmates, who spend 24 hours a day with the dog for two weeks in rotation. 

According to Professor Kikusui, letting the dogs sleep with the inmates can help build trust. His research team has since interviewed inmates at the start and end of the program to measure changes in their sociality and psychological status while also checking the amount of oxytocin in their urine. 

The data are still being analysed.

If the behavioral change in the inmates is confirmed to materialize in their social connection with dogs – it will add to a list of things that they can do to aid human society. 

Since the ancient time, dogs are used for herding of sheep and cattle in farms. These days they also act as guide for the blinds, hearing for the deaf, mobility for the disables; working to detect drugs, explosive, in search and rescue; as well as in therapy to people suffering from trauma.

https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/focus/en/features/z1304_00284.html