Why exactly do you think pets have the ability to tell when you are upset?

People display their emotions in ways they themselves are often unaware of.
Animals and people both pick up on this.

Because I anthropomorphise and I’m wishful.

It might be possible that since we are mammals just like cats and dogs, we share certain similarities with them in terms of emotion and body language. For example, have you ever noticed how a dog whimpering sounds very similar to a human crying? Or how when a cat is angry, its eyes widen and it makes loud noises, just as a person may do when angry.

Even apart from all this, pets can also pick up on emotions in other ways. It’s simple conditioning. Through experience, they know that when your voice gets loud, they should avoid you, and when you look troubled, you might be more receptive to them being with you.

Interesting side note: one of my friends had a dog that was so good at learning that he knew what you meant even when you spelled W-A-L-K. He used to go crazy any time he heard the word walk, so my friend started to spell it instead when he didn’t want the dog to come along. Eventually the dog picked up on this and started to flip out just the same.

i think it goes back to when animals (im talking dogs) were in packs. they could sense how others were feeling, and could hunt more efficiently that way.also because you are seen as the leader, and the pack had to know how the leader was feeling, so they would know not to annoy him/ her. they needed to respect the leader, so they offered support or help, so they could get higher up in the pack.

these are just my guesses, not actual research.

Because they read body language well. Because animals have feelings too. Because they are generally very loving.

@pdworkin You poor sad thing.

show of emotion doesn’t really differ very much from species to species. you scrunch up your nose and push down your eye brows when you’re angry, lower your head when you’re embarrassed, perk up when you’re curious, it’s all the same general posturing, it’s not really a mystery.

Pets, like small children, pay close attention to EVERYTHING you say or do. (and like small children, they don’t necessarily do everything you say)

@rafiss My dog has done this too! We started out saying ‘walk’ and she would get overly excited, so we started to spell it and she eventually learned that too. We have even tried to say ‘Do you want to take Sammie for a you know what?” and she figured that one out too. haha animals are amazing creatures

We talk about being peripatetic with the canine.

I guess its the same reason that a mother can tell when her baby is sick even though they can’t speak and tell her. Or the same way a husband can tell when his wife is pissed even if she has not yet “verbally“said that something has upset her. I think animals can read non-verbal communication very mucn like humans can they just can’t speak to tell us.

I think it’s mostly by watching our body language, that our pets can read our minds.

I don’t think animals do have some special capability to “sense” when you need love more.
I think they’re just generally compassionate, always handing out love. It is YOU who appreciates, and pays more attention to, the love that they give you when you’re upset.

How many times has your cat tried to hop on your lap when you were feeling fine? Millions of times? But as soon as you’re upset, that standard procedure becomes this feeling of “Aww mittens loves me!”

@Sarcasm HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Your too funny…... But thats so true!

@sarcasm lmao. great answer!

Because they have nothing better to do all day than to look at you and study what they have to do to please you. So they can get a treat.

In the end, I don’t think they care if we’re happy. They just want a treat.

Since we don’t share a language with animals, we and they interpret meaning through other means: tone of voice, body language, patterns of behavior, etc. When you raise your voice or don’t sleep at the usual time, for instance, your animal companion will notice. If we couldn’t communicate with animals there is no way that we could train them.

He knows because that is when he will probably get table scraps.

I don’t really care, I just like that they are always there and that alone makes me feel better!

Recently I had a bout of nightly heartburn that caused me to throw up at 3:00AM. Milo showed up at the toilet every time; but I think he was curious rather than solicitous. My attempts to teach him to dial 911 have not been successful either.

Your pet spends a great deal of attention on your face and energy in order to see their own needs met, they rely on you and are at your mercy that much so they are pretty attuned to your particular moods and physical cues.

Wow, my dog never does this. Maybe because I’m rarely upset or maybe because he doesn’t like me.

Mirror neurons perhaps.

One night my partner and I were wrestling around – play fighting and he put his arm around my neck like he was choking me. I kept saying “Get him Shpanky, bite him, sic him boy” and he just sat there watching the whole thing with only a little interest.

Then I started whimpering like a dog and he cocked his head to the side so continued doing it. Next thing you know, he just jumping at my partners legs barking incessantly and was quite upset.

He was so pleased to see that I was ok when my partner let me go and I felt awful for pretending that all was not ok. I found it interesting that he interpreted distress simply because I mimicked his “language”.

Yes, yes… he is nicknamed Shpanky, trust me I get a lot of slack for it! LOL

@Rachienz (MIght you mean “grief” rather than “slack”?)

@gailcalled – lol… grief.

(—I doubt it. Check the meaning of the two words. I can cut you some slack in your use of English, but you might give me a lot of grief for not minding my own business.)

My mistake

Ooh, sneaky; you edited while my back was turned :-0

I have a very sensitive dog. However, being bi-polar, my mood swings confuse her and she doesn’t react appropriately. I’m depressed and sad; she gets all happy and excited. When I’m high and happy, she sulks and whimpers. This will change, as I’ve put her on a little something I like to call woofzak. Lithium for mutts. Oh she’ll be in sync with me now.