You're crying, your dog is crying — but are they the same?

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August 29th, 2022

Ted Kubacki gets a lick from the family golden retriever, Lulu, outside their house after being reunited in Sitka, Alaska, in July. The elderly, blind dog who had been missing three weeks, was found on by a construction crew. Behind Kubacki is his wife, Rebecca, and their children Ella, Viola, Star, Lazaria and Olive.

If you’ve ever watched a video of a dog being reunited with its owner, you know how much it can pull on the heartstrings. Sometimes the human owners start crying because they’re overcome with emotions, but what if the dogs did the same thing?

A new study says that dogs produce more tears when reunited with their owners compared to when they reunite with familiar humans who are not their owners.

The study was published in Current Biology Magazine last week and challenges the long-held notion that humans are the only creatures that are capable of producing tears as an emotional response.

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