«BUoniorno, dogs, hello/ dog cagnoloni cagnazzi/ mysterious gift of nature/ to us carris ». Dino Buzzati He wrote here and there, in the stories and verses, of the life companions who loved an absolute love, as many of us happen. He never called the painter to clean up the halo that he had left one of his loyal friends behind the desk, on the wall where he was leaning on. Who knows, perhaps he would have dedicated a novel to the institute that now aims to let us communicate with the other species, exploring the non -human forms of consciousness through an immense amount of data analyzed by algorithms.
The Jeremy Coller Center for Animal Sentiencewhich inaugurates on 30 September 2025, is based at the London School of EconomicIf you aspire to explain to us, in the near future, Because that cat is angry or that Labrador complains. «Just like the Rosetta stele has revealed the secrets of the hieroglyphics, I am convinced that the Power of artificial intelligence can help us understand the way other animals live their interactions with human beings“Said Jeremy Coller, the businessman at the head of the philanthropic Foundation who finances the research with four million pounds. “Only when we have a better understanding of how they feel will we be able to recognize our deficiencies in the way we treat them.”
We do not know if the machines will be able to create a language between living beings, without cognitive distortions. Certainly other creatures are “an inexhaustible source of questions”, as noted in his recent book, Walking with the moon dogthe neuroscientist Giorgio Vallortigara. We have scrutinized them since time immemorial. Finds of the Superior Paleolithic who testify to how the dogs followed us when we wandered us for the earth in nomadic tribes. In Cyprus, however, archaeologists found remains of cats near human bones, datable 9500 years ago. A relationship along millennia. So intense that you don’t stop investigating it.
A balm for the heart
The synthesis of scientific literature is that Being with the beasts of the house is good for the mind and body. The conclusion of one of the first quantitative research on these issues had aroused dismayed among cardiologists. It was claimed that owning a cat could reduce the risk of heart attack by almost a third. The result, published over fifteen years ago (on Journal of Vascular and Interventional Neurology) was the result of an analysis of the parameters of 4,435 Americans between 30 and 75 years of age, conducted by the University of Minnesota. How did such an impact explain? Simple, according to the senior author of work, Adnan Qureshi: “Psychological stress and anxiety are linked to cardiovascular events. Having pets helps to alleviate them ».
The Californian nurse Katie Cole had already guessed it, which in 2005 had led toAmerican Heart Association The results of a pilot study on patients with heart failure: during Pet Therapy visits there were young people in the heart and respiratory function. A short contact with dogs improved blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation. Among the recent investigations, the most relevant dates back to 2019 (on Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and outcomes, magazine of the American Heart Association). A group of Swedish scientists observed a large sample of participants and concluded that the company of an animal has a remarkable impact on health: compared to a single person, an elderly single who lives with a dog has a 33 percent superior survival rate after a heart attack and 27 percent after a stroke.
Benefits at all ages
Based on research like this, a few months ago Veteris, an association that brings together geriatrics and veterinarians, presented a study to the Congress of the Italian Society of Gerontology according to which there were annual savings of up to 4 billion for the national health system if all Italians affected by the most common chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and depression, took care of a domestic animal. But the benefits are at all ages. Try it a Experiment of 2025 at the University of Washington: The students who spent some time every week with some dogs (trained for Pet Therapy) have shown less signs of stress and sadness than others.
The biochemistry of emotions
Caress a border collie or a mein coon relaxes, reduces cortisol levels and stimulates the production of the opposite hormone, oxytocina molecular anti -stress. I also like them. A “mutual biological loop” is created, a cycle that activates simultaneously in humans and animal and that strengthens the bond. In a search on Science Of 2015, Japanese researchers have shown that in a cocker or in a beagle, after playing with the human reference, the oxytocin in circulation grows by 57 percent. A significant increase is also observed in the owners, similar to what occurs between mother and son in times of care.
The biochemistry of emotions passes from the gaze, because dogs and cats fix us straight in the eyes. In an Italian study, which appeared on frontiers in Psychology, it emerged that facial communication leads to the mortgage release of oxytocin. Apparently, it was we who selected their ability. British researchers compared 33 domestic dogs with 13 wolves, and have identified some differences in the adjustment. A golden retriever or a German shepherd speak to us with their eyes, their wild relatives are not. The movements of the muscles around the eyes lift the eyebrows in the dog until they take an almost “comma” shape, typical of a face when it feels sadness. The expression is very recognizable for us, to the point of aroused empathy, as if it were a fellow man. Homo sapiens chose those dogs that were docile, suitable for domestication, selecting the most reassuring species.
Pet therapy in the office
There is no shortage of research on cats and on the most tender feature: being neotenic, that is, maintaining movements and puppy habits throughout life. Their spindles reproduce the behaviors they had with their mother, of which human beings somehow become substitutes. So many results have accumulated that the animal company has spread in many centers, in rest homes and hospitals. Al San Raffaelethe pediatric unit has been hosting the Project enough a pawwith Two dogs that are around in the ward to relieve the discomfort of hospitalized children, while the Niguarda is offered the Cat Therapy.
This is the awareness of the friendship between species that begin to make the rules wide to allow the entry of animals of affection in the workplace. At the Bicocca University of Milan, the first university to give permission to teachers and employees, the new regulation entered into force in March 2024. And from January 31, 2025 it is possible for the senators to bring the animals to their private offices of Palazzo Madama. But why do we love a poodle or a Siamese? Because they excite us, or perhaps because they don’t judge us, or because they await us, and it is a knowledge of knowing it. Returning to Ithaca, Ulysses cries only once, when he meets his dog, now old and sick: “And Argo, the trusted can, after seeing/ had after ten years and ten ulisse/ eyes in the sleep of closed death”.
The walk becomes sport
In recent years, the dog trekking has been spreading, which trains the masters and offers benefits to dogs. Specialized organizations were born to offer dedicated itineraries, with the presence of dog instructors who support during the experience. For example, the company of the paths for October offers routes to Tuscany, but there are travel opportunities from Trentino to Abruzzo. Obviously it is recommended that the animal is protected by external and internal parasites (such as fleas and ticks) and that the vaccinations are in order. Elderly dogs and puppies get still tired: short walks and stops are indicated for them.
Eliana Liotta (photo by Carlo Vangeri Gilbert).
Eliana Liotta is a journalist, writer and scientific popularizer. On Iodonna.it and on the main platforms (Spreaker, Spotify, Apple Podcast and Google Podcast) you will find its podcast series The good I want to.
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