How dogs sense our mood and why we should listen to them

Dogs have been said to sense the change in people moods, specially the mood change of their owners. Some dogs are very sensitive to people in general, working in therapy and said to know "exactly who to go". I have never really had a first hand experience about this, but a very dear friend and "a big sister" to me works with therapy animals and she has said on multiple occasions that her animals seem to know who needs their help the most.

My experience lays with with animals reacting to stress. I have seen how stress affects them, and I have seen dogs get stressed because of the stress of their owner. I have never really seen dogs react to mental health issues before it happened to myself.

The following is a very personal post to me, and I was debating whether or not I want to post it. However, I feel that people should not be ashamed of admitting they have had mental health issues. Many of us have them at point point, some of us have a mental disease. None of us should be ashamed of being sick. That's why I decided to talk about this, in hopes of both showing dogs really DO sense our moods and also to encourage everyone to listen to their dogs. 

If they keep giving warning signals, don't close your eyes. Stop and think.

A small glimpse of history behind my current situation 

During the past years things have been pretty hectic, pretty dramatic and pretty exhausting for me.

I work as a classroom assistant, occasional part time teacher, in an elementary school. My field of work usually consist of aiding children with special needs, particularly social difficulties, impulse control problems and violent behavior. About two years ago I was given a difficult job assignment, very much whether or not I wanted to take it, and sent to work in a different town. The assignment and the customer I was working with was very demanding, and it required 100% of me every day. I don’t go into more detail, as obviously I can’t, but the emotional load and the amount of work I had was ten times what I had had before, and the salary did not meet with the difficulty of the job.

In my private life I had lots to do, too. I live alone, with four dogs and two ferrets, and I have a small house to look after. This is my choice, I love living like this and right here, but it’s still a lot of work. Snow Princess is a young dog with young, dominant dog’s needs, and General, Jester and Trooper are old, having their special old pet needs already.

During about five past years I have been very much engaged to this one friendship I had. It was with a person I met through a hobby, and we quickly became very close. Or so I assumed. We talked daily, and what started as a super friendship at one point turned to some sort of a twisted version of what it once was. My friend was very keen on giving critique, but the said friend also did not like to receive it. The friend was demanding, kept reminding me of staying in touch and frequently suspected I am not genuine or interested in how the friend is feeling. Our relationship had grown to be one of the most important I have ever had and I truly, deeply cared for this person, so I tried my best to give the friend 100% as well. Of course I sometimes failed, but I tried my best. It didn’t seem to be enough and the smallest of disagreements would send the friend into a flaming rage. The friend would talk very nasty to me, openly state I am selfish or arrogant or not caring. I was so afraid of losing the friend I distanced myself from my other friends, because I trusted that they’d be there, surely, when I am done. This person here needs me now.

To top all this, I started studying at a university in 2018. I am an English Major (believe it or not, hah) and studying has required a lot. It’s far harder than I anticipated, obviously, and even though I have taken great leaps forward with my skill, giving 100% to studying while giving 100% to work while giving 100% to a relationship means I have been giving 300% for the past about two or so years.

Now, a person only can give 100%. I have stretched to amazing limits, refusing to see the signs in me that have told me to stop. It’s not in my nature to stop.

Warning signs

About a year ago, I started seeing the change in Jester. He had become more wary, more nervous and little by little his separation anxiety that had been away for years came back. I was baffled with this. Why did it happen? I had problems with Snow Princess testing me. I saw General was more snappy towards other dogs. Duchess was more alert, guarding a lot, and in return sleeping a lot. She was serious. Trooper and Private were a bit distant towards me sometimes.

I wondered what was going on every now and then, but I didn’t give it lots of thought. All my pets are well trained, so life was OK, I just assumed they might have some stress issues because of something and I tried to follow the routines we had more strictly.

Then came the end of 2018. It was around the turn of September and October when physical issues started developing.

I had growing pains, daily, and they were not mild. They were serious and they really affected my mood. I felt dizzy, I had night terrors and I had nightmares. I developed a constant flu and a constant fever that would go away for a day or two and then return. My head was aching frequently. I started having rage bursts.

My studies were going OK, but required lots of work, I had returned to my old job from the assignment I was in before, but the work schedule was A LOT to handle and the job itself was a hassle. My car got vandalized during a work day, at my school’s parking lot, I got thrown with rocks, I got called names. I even got death threats sometimes. I was at the edge with my work, really having to push myself through every day, and then the issues with my friend started escalating. Eventually they led to the friend cutting all ties with me without any explanation, causing me a great deal of stress.

At this point, Jester’s separation anxiety had turned to overall anxiety. He slept poorly during the nights and kept walking. He was not happy. I was starting to think he was sick. I also noticed the moment I sat down on the floor General, Duchess and Snow Princess would try to come over me, to lay on my chest or lap. They are very affectionate, but usually they do that to get cuddles. Now it seemed that they were just there. They were licking my joints and sniffing at me and seemed worried. Jester, on the other hand, kept away from me.

Do you see the pattern here?

It was about two weeks before Christmas when I doctor asked me, after another set of blood tests and what evers, if I was feeling OK. I was like “NO, I have had fever and pains for weeks!”, and she answered “No, I mean your mind. Do you have stress?”. I thought about it a bit and answered that yeah, I kind of feel very stressed. A very important friendship had ended without any reason to be told, I had health issues, I had my job, I had my studies, and I still felt like I was a disappointment. That I did not do enough. That I SHOULD do even more.

It was after Trooper was diagnosed with insulinoma when my world collapsed. When during one morning I couldn’t get up. I felt HORRIBLE. A failure. I started thinking if someone so worthless as me would vanish, seize of being, would anyone even notice?

That’s what woke me up. I went to the doctor, I said I need help and that I think I am mentally ill.

And I was.

Smart little critters

I am on a long sick leave now. I have been given lots of good advice on how to work down my stress level and I have been helped to realize how much this over all situation has weighed me down. How it turned my everyday life from living to surviving.


My pets saw this. They noticed this FAR before I did. They saw something was wrong, and that’s why their behavior changed. They have tried to tell me long before things got bad that something is not right.

It is said dogs can smell the change in our moods. Our brain chemistry changes, hormone levels increase or fall, and the dogs are said to be able to sense it with their amazing sense of smell. They are also super at reading our behavior, and our behavior changes when we are stressed, depressed, tired, hyper, you name it. We are not normal in their eyes, and they react to that.

Jester is super sensitive. He was the one reacting the strongest. He couldn’t trust in my judging and actions anymore, because he saw I was not myself. Duchess was alert, because I was not. Snow Princess saw I was weak, and she tested me. Teens do that, give her a break. She also sniffed at me, licked at me and seemed almost agitated. Almost as if she was TRYING TO TELL ME SOMETHING. She was, I just didn’t listen. General was snappy, because he was stressed about my weird and inconsistent behavior. Ferrets stayed at a distance, because I didn’t seem safe to them, I assume. I was odd.

I am now a bit better. Not well, but better, and it has been amazing and yet horrifying to see just how different my pets behave now. Jester’s separation anxiety is almost gone and he is once more affectionate, happy and goofy. He comes for cuddles and wags his tail and does funny tricks. Snow Princess needs only a glance, maybe a word, and she behaves. Duchess is playful and energetic, almost as if SHE HAS BEEN ON DUTY FOR FAR TOO LONG, and she was. God knows how long she has been taking care of guarding full time because she saw I was in a weak state of mind. General is not as snappy. He is a bit tired, though, because he has been stressing for so long. When he is awake, he is happier and more relaxed and forgiving to others. Ferrets come to me, they want to play with me and spend time with me.

This is all because I FEEL better. I have no medication, I only receive help and tips from mental health experts. It is amazing to witness just how much different our life is, and how horrible I felt before. Only now, when I feel better, I see just how on the edge I have been, and for how long. How this situation with all it’s parts: job, studying, health issues, difficult, and I would say pretty abusive in some parts, relationship… how all this has affected my pets, specially my dogs, through my lowering mood.

I have seen how dogs react to mental health issues. They really do see and smell and sense the change in us, and we should listen. I have written about our pets reacting to our stress before, but mental health issues go deeper than just stress.

Stop and listen

If you find yourself in a situation where your dogs have strange, usually either stress related or anxious or aggressive, behavior, obviously go through their life. What could cause that problem? Things like this don’t just pop up. Everything has a reason, whether genetic or caused by the surroundings. If you can’t find any reason, or even if you do, always remember to look in the mirror and ask: do I do something different? Do I act different than before? Do I feel well?

Signs to look for are usually 

• changes in behavior that are not explained with health issues
• change in how the dog reacts to you and behaves around you
• anxiety developing, anxiety relating problems developing (difficulties in sleeping, calming down, learning, social interaction skills decline)
• calming signals
• excessive licking or sniffing you
• aggression, such as leash aggression, that appears "out of nowhere"

If you have any reason to think you might have mental health issues, and specially if your dogs have started to behave differently, seek help. Remember, they know us far better than we think, and they see the change far before we do.

Don’t let your world collapse. Care for yourself, because in the end, when things fall, you are the one picking up the pieces. It’s a horrible feeling to realize you let things go so far it actually damaged those you love the most.

If things DO go so far, try to fix it, change things, seek help, but also forgive yourself. You have been sick. Never forget, so it doesn’t happen again, but forgive. Mental health issues are HEALTH ISSUES. You did not choose them, but it’s your decision to seek help. Getting better is a long road, and it’s the longer the further you walked down the path of doom. In some cases the disease may not be curable, but in most cases there are ways to help you to survive with it. Find those ways.

You are your dog’s whole world. Let their world be as happy as it could be.