Rubbing Your Dog's Ears
 A Natural Sedative For You And Your Dog

Rubbing your dog's ears gives your dog a soothing pleasurable feeling. From the small ears of the Chihuahua to the stand up ears of the German Shepard to the long floppy ears of the Basset Hound, they all enjoy having their ears rubbed or scratched. In general, most dogs crave attention, and having their ears rubbed is the ultimate in attention.

The reason why the rubbing your dog's ears are so pleasurable is because they are one of the nerve centers on the dog's body that are extra-sensitive to the touch. The other places they are sensitive to touching are their bellies and between their toes.

When rubbing your dog's ears, the pleasure she gets from it is not just on the surface, but also from deep within her body. That's because the nerves in the ears have branches that go to some of the internal organs. There's essentially a neural map of the dog's body within her ears. As a result, putting pressure on your dog's ears sends nerve impulses throughout her body. That's why some people pinch their dog's ears as a correction for bad behavior.

Some dogs become so blissful and relaxed that they fall asleep when they have their ears rubbed. The rubbing sends nerve impulses to the hypothalamus and pituitary glands which secrete endorphins, pain-killing hormones, that can put the dog into a euphoric state. In essence when you rub your dog's ears, she can be getting high on her own hormones.

It turns out that the person doing the petting or rubbing is getting some of the same benefits as the dog. Researchers have found that the act of petting a dog or rubbing the dog's ears causes a flood of human endorphins. It not only relaxes the person, but can also actually lower the persons blood pressure. That's the reason that hospitals have dogs that are trained for it, to come to just be petted by patients. The patients tend to get better more quickly and it tends to relieve some of the depression of patients who are depressed about their illness.

All told, rubbing your dog's ears is beneficial to all involved.

For more information on how to handle and train your dog go to: Dog Training

A trained dog is a happy dog and has a happy owner.