The Way Dogs () Look at Human Emotional Faces Is Modulated by Oxytocin. An Eye-Tracking Study.

Dogs have been shown to excel in reading human social cues, including facial cues. In the present study we used eye-tracking technology to further study dogs' face processing abilities. It was found that dogs discriminated between human facial regions in their spontaneous viewing pattern and looked most to the eye region independently of facial expression.

Intranasally administered oxytocin affects how dogs (Canis familiaris) react to the threatening approach of their owner and an unfamiliar experimenter.

Fear and aggression are among the most prominent behavioural problems in dogs. Oxytocin has been shown to play a role in regulating social behaviours in humans including fear and aggression. As intranasal oxytocin has been found to have some analogous effects in dogs and humans, here we investigated the effect of oxytocin on dogs' behaviour in the Threatening Approach Test.