Dogs are many people’s best friends, especially when they live alone. I have a dog named Chloe who is eight years old now. She is a mixture of a Miniature Pincher and a German Shepard. I love Chloe because she never fails to make me happy when I’m feeling down. The positive energy that always surrounds her overwhelms me with joy. She never fails to make me smile whenever I enter my house everyday after school. She’s the main reason I look forward to coming home from a long day of school each day.  

One of my favorite things about Chloe is how capable she is of knowing what mood I’m in. When I cry, she always licks up my tears and sits with me until I feel better. It’s quite fascinating how she knows when I’m down and attempts to make me feel better in her own unique way. Always having her there whenever I need her is really comforting for me. Although she doesn’t talk, her actions always show me how much she truly cares about me. Sometimes it’s helpful to have someone who doesn’t even need to talk to you in order to bring up your mood even if it’s a dog. I like having someone to tell all my feelings to and never have to worry about her disagreeing or telling anyone about it. She’s always there for me whenever I need a paw to cry on.

There was a University of London study done in 2012 that told whether or not dogs know when you’re sad or not. Of the 18 dogs in the study conducted by researcher and psychologist Deborah Custance, 15 approached their owner or her colleague Jennifer Mayer during crying fits, while only six approached during humming. That suggests that it’s emotional content, not curiosity, that brings the dogs running. Likewise, the dogs always approached the crying person, never the quiet person, as one might expect if the dog was seeking (rather than trying to provide) comfort.

“The dogs approached whoever was crying regardless of their identity. Thus they were responding to the person’s emotion, not their own needs, which is suggestive of empathic-like comfort-offering behavior,” Mayer said in a statement.

This experiment proves that dogs really do understand the difference between a human being happy and being sad.