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By Maria Azzurra Volpe
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Petting your dog may do more than just put a smile on your face, according to a new study that examined the effects of physical contact between dogs and their owners.
Researchers from the University of Innsbruck found that dog owners who physically touched their dogs after a stressful situation showed lower stress levels when faced with a second challenge.
Dr. Monica Berntsen, consultant psychologist and neuropsychologist who was not involved in the study, told Newsweek that one possible explanation is that interacting with a familiar dog may signal safety to the nervous system.
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“Human brains are constantly scanning for one question: am I safe? Stroking a dog you know answers 'yes' through the body rather than through thinking. Slow, rhythmic touch, warmth and a calm, familiar animal all tell the nervous system to stand down," she said.
The study, published in Biological Psychology, involved 64 dog owners, including 51 women and 13 men, with an average age of 34. Each participant brought their own dog, which had to be at least 2 years old, healthy and comfortable in unfamiliar surroundings.
To investigate the effects of the physical contact, researchers exposed participants to two stressful tasks: a timed general knowledge quiz and a mental mathematics exercise.
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During the quiz, participants had just five seconds to answer each question. For the mathematics task, they had to count backward by fixed numbers while following a blinking red dot, preventing them from slowing down. A researcher monitored them through video calls, providing negative feedback.
Participants completed two separate test blocks. In one, they could freely interact physically with their dogs by stroking them, petting, or holding them. In the other, their dogs remained nearby on a short leash, where they could see and talk to them but where not allowed to touch them.
Researchers monitored participants' brain and activity using brain recordings and electrocardiograms (ECG) and also asked how they felt at key points.
Initially, researchers wanted to determine whether petting a dog could help people recover faster after a stressful situation. However, the results did not show immediate recovery advantage.
The more notable differences emerged during the second stressful task.
After completing the first challenge, participants had a five-minute break. Those who touched their dogs during the break showed weaker biological stress responses when faced with the next challenge.
Berntsen said the effect could be linked to the physiological effects of gentle touch, including activation of the parasympathetic "rest and digest" system and increased oxytocin, which she said can reduce heart rate and the cortisol response. She compared this with the "social buffering" seen when a trusted person is present during a stressful situation.
She said: “A brain that has just been told 'you're safe' starts the next stressful thing from a lower baseline. It has more resources in the tank, so it doesn't have to go from zero to panic as quickly.”
Participants' brain recordings showed that those who had physical contact with their dogs maintained higher alpha-wave activity throughout the second part of the experiment, suggesting reduced brain activation.
Those who did not touch their dogs during the break did not demonstrate the same effect.
The familiarity of the dog could also play a role, according to Berntsen. “A strange dog is something to assess. Your own dog has spent years teaching your brain 'this one is safe,' so the calming signal arrives faster and runs deeper,” she said.
The researchers also found that participants' reported emotions did not necessarily match their body's biological responses. How stressed someone said they felt did not always correspond with what their heart rate and brain activity showed.
Overall, the findings suggested that physical contact with dogs may influence how the body responds to future stressful situations, rather than speeding up recovery from stress that has already occurred.
Berntsen cautioned against interpreting the findings as evidence that petting a dog can treat anxiety. “Longer term, and the caveat: regular moments of calm like this may help keep your stress baseline lower over time, but most studies are small and short-term. This isn't a treatment for anxiety, but it's a cheap, pleasant way to top up your nervous system before a hard day,” she said.
Reference
Vanessa Kaufmann et al., Pet-induced stress buffering depends on touch: Evidence from brain and cardiac measures, Biological Psychology (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2026.109366
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Kara Dolman and Emma Lee-Sang
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