Dog owners who ruminate about work stress may pass anxiety to their pooch: study

If your job has you feeling tense your dog might be feeling it too A new assessment published in Scientific Reports finds that stress from work can affect your dog at home The research led by Tanya Mitropoulos and Allison Andrukonis shows that when dog owners dwell on work problems after hours a habit known as work-related rumination their pets show more signs of stress Researchers surveyed working dog owners They measured job stress and how often people kept thinking about work during their free time Then they requested how stressed owners thought their dogs were and also tracked actual behaviors linked to canine stress like whining pacing or restlessness WOMAN SAYS DOG DETECTED HER BREAST CANCER BEFORE DOCTORS DID 'HE'S KNOWN THIS WHOLE TIME'The examination ascertained that owners with higher job stress had dogs who revealed more stress-related behaviors That link stayed strong even when the researchers accounted for other stress in the home Interestingly owners didn t inevitably realize their dogs were stressed It was a pup's behavior that recounted the story The big factor driving the connection Rumination Owners who mentally took work home were more likely to have stressed-out dogs Thinking about work off the clock seemed to spread stress from humans to pets This idea is known as crossover when one person s stress spills over to others in a home Previous research has shown this happens between spouses and now there s evidence it can happen between people and their pets too APPROACHES TO TREAT YOUR PET AND CELEBRATE THEIR JOYDogs are especially sensitive to their owners moods Scientists call this emotional contagion the idea that dogs can pick up on human feelings through tone of voice body language and other subtle cues When an owner is distracted or irritable from work stress the dog notices Over time this can affect the dog s well-being The analysis also suggests another explanation When people are focused on work problems they may become less individual more distant or less consistent with routines like walks and feeding That kind of change in care can also increase stress in dogs The authors point out that Americans overwhelmingly see their pets as part of the family That makes it even more vital to understand how our behavior affects them CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPIn the research s words employed dog owners might benefit from avoiding work-related ruminations when at home to protect the well-being of man s best friend Putting work aside when you walk through the door doesn t just help your own fitness It helps your dog too