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Updated: Aug 7, 2026

The Other End of the Leash: An Experimental Test to Analyze How Owners Interact with Their Pet Dogs
Published on: October 13, 2017
Interspecies hormonal interactions between man and the domestic dog (Canis familiaris)
Amanda C Jones1, Robert A Josephs
1University of Texas at Austin, Department of Psychology, 1 University Station A8000, Austin, TX 78712-0187, USA. acjones@mail.utexas.edu
Abstract:
To date, hormonal influence in interspecies interaction has not been examined. In a study of a dog agility competition among human/dog teams, men's pre-competition basal testosterone (T) levels were positively related to changes in dogs' cortisol levels from pre- to post-competition, but only among losing teams. Furthermore, pre-competition basal T in men on losing teams predicted more than half of the variance in dogs' cortisol change. This relationship was mediated through men's punitive and affiliative behaviors towards their dogs immediately after competition. Men's T change was also a significant predictor of dogs' change in cortisol such that men who experienced greater decreases in T after a loss were associated with dogs that experienced greater increases in cortisol. In winning teams, men's pre-competition T and T changes were unrelated to dogs' cortisol changes. These results are discussed in light of T as a proxy for dominance motivation as well as T's relation to stress across the species boundary.
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