Friend Or Foe? What Makes Pets Trust Humans

Have you ever wondered why pets trust and approach some humans instantly while actively avoid others, the answer is complex and based on internal processing of the pet rather than any external act. Animals process emotions through instincts and cues, they also look for body language, scents and experiences. Here are the reasons why pet animals trust some humans instantly while avoiding others:






Animals rely on their inner instincts while trusting humans, they look for overall body language, facial signs and gestures. A relaxed body language with an open space is perfect to bond with a pet as they feel free to approach and trust without any threat or domination.



Animals also look for pleasant and natural body scents, scents that are free from the smell of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Animals can also detect unfamiliar chemical scents and other animal scents off of a person making them less likely to approach that human.




An open and friendly interaction with open hands and caressing gestures allow animals to approach humans on their own pace making them build trust effectively.




Animals can sense human emotions, happy and relaxed energy attracts them while calm and positive energy makes them feel at ease. Animals are also attracted to the people with same energy level as them, playful animals love people who are as active as them while peaceful animals love people who are as steady as them.




Animals remember interactions and experiences. Animals are attracted to people who are friendly, kind, offer treats, food or lovingly caress them. But also actively avoid people who mistreat them, irritate them or abuse them, they tend to remember specific traits of people who hurt them, like their scent, body language, appearance, etc and purposely avoid such other people with same traits.




All animals are social beings, how an animal is socialized earlier in life decides how it would act socially later. An animal who is introduced to different people earlier in life, develops open social approach while an animal deprived of socializing may have a hard time approaching and trusting humans.




Animals fear and avoid threatening behavior like loud noises, stares, abrupt movements, path blocking, controlling and dominating cues, etc. They actively avoid humans with such traits.

So, this was the list of reasons why pet animals would approach or avoid someone. Hope you find this article helpful and interesting.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

1. Can dogs sense a bad person?
   Dogs can sense if a person is untrustworthy or have bad intentions by noticing their stress hormones like cortisol, negative, fearful body language, unkindness, etc, making them react defensively and perceiving them as threats.
2. Why do dogs sniff your cooch?
   Dogs sniff your cooch to gather information regarding your age, sex, mood and health through pheromones produced by sweat glands just as they do with other dogs, sniffing their rear ends.
3. Can a dog smell fear on you?
   Yes, dogs can smell fear on you because they can detect chemical signals in humans through sweat, fear in body language, gestures and facial expressions. They become cautious, aggressive and alert by perceiving fear as a threat or weakness.