Why are dogs so faithful?

Fido was a 4-month-old pup, but already had his share of suffering. His owner had to give him up because his mentally-disabled brother would hit Fido and had tried to drown him on more than one occasion. In his new home, Fido was stressed. He managed to escape this new home and ran miles to his first owner. Ever wondered why dogs are so faithful?

This is a quality that all dogs have and that too many humans lack. But what makes dogs so undeserved for us humans? There has been some research on the bond between dogs and humans, which stems from when the latter domesticated the former. When the man domesticated the dog, it was based on loyalty. By instinct, they are eager to please their pack.

Key reasons why dogs are so faithful

Getting straight down to it, these are some of the reasons why dogs are so faithful:

  • Their past. Studies seem to suggest that dogs separated from wolves years before they encountered humans. Dogs and humans began to share their lives only 13,000 years ago.
  • Pack loyalty. Once a dog joins a pack, he needs to stay faithful to that pack in order for it to succeed.
  • Communication. Research demonstrates that dogs are more human-like in their behavior than primates. This is due to so many years of humans, trying to improve communication with us.
  • Dogs see us as their equals. Their faithfulness to us might come from the fact that they see us as their equals.

Some pretty faithful dogs

Several species of dogs have developed a specially strong instinct toward faithfulness. They would follow their owners to the death. Some of these species are:

In general, all dog breeds will genuinely be faithful to their humans. Now that you know the answer to “Why are dogs so faithful”, we should all go and try to learn a thing or two about faithfulness from our dogs.