How “puppydog eyes” do their trick: chemistry

I am a selfish person.

If you’ve ev­er won­dered how just one dole­ful look from your dog al­ways makes you for­give that chewed-up shoe—or al­most an­y­thing else—sci­en­tists may have an an­swer.

A dog’s gaze trig­gers re­lease of the so-called “trust hor­mone” ox­y­to­cin in own­ers, ac­cord­ing to Jap­a­nese re­search­ers.

A dog’s gaze trig­gers re­lease of the so-called “trust hor­mone” ox­y­to­cin in own­ers, ac­cord­ing to Jap­a­nese re­search­ers. Ox­y­to­cin, pro­duced by the pi­tu­i­tary gland at the base of the brain, is im­pli­cat­ed in bond­ing be­hav­iors in an­i­mals in­clud­ing hu­mans. (Im­age cour­tesy Frank­lin County Dog Shel­ter, Ohio)
Ox­y­to­cin, pro­duced by the pi­tu­i­tary gland at the base of the brain, has been im­pli­cat­ed in bond­ing be­hav­iors in an­i­mals in­clud­ing hu­mans. Ex­pe­ri­ments have even found that sniff­ing ox­y­to­cin in­creases a per­son’s trust­ful­ness of others.

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