Dogs may be attempting to communicate with their owners through blinking, according to a recent study from the University of Parma, Italy. Scientists have found that dogs use blinking as a "subtle affiliative signal" when looking at people they are close to, suggesting it could be an effort to convey friendliness or build a stronger social connection.
The study involved showing 35 dogs videos of humans. Researchers observed that the dogs' blink rates increased when they saw footage of a human blinking, compared to when they viewed a human staring. However, this effect was only noted when the human in the video was the dog's owner.
"I believe that it suggests that dog-human communication may be more subtle and responsive to social relationships than we actually recognise," said lead author Dr. Chiara Canori. "There may be a much richer layer of communication in these small, overlooked changes in behaviour, and learning to recognise and acknowledge them could help us better understand our dogs."
While blinking is a basic physiological function to protect the eye, the study suggests it may also have acquired social relevance. The effect was found to be more pronounced when the owner in the video was a woman, which the authors suggest could reflect a dog's greater attention and social engagement with that particular owner.
"Our study does not show that a dog is deliberately 'saying something' every time it blinks; rather, it suggests that this apparently simple and automatic behaviour can be influenced by the social context," Dr. Canori explained. "The fact that dogs modulated their blinking depending on whether the human was their owner suggests that their responses are not simply triggered by seeing a human face or movement, but may be influenced by the social relevance of that particular person."
This research adds to a growing understanding of dog-human interaction. Previous studies have indicated that dogs can discern emotions from human facial expressions and even detect human stress through scent. Like cats, which respond to slow blinks as a sign of affection, dogs appear to engage in these subtle behavioral cues, indicating that the bond between dogs and humans is built on more than just obvious signals like vocalizations or gestures.