Does My Dog Know I Love Him? A Comprehensive Quiz


Two dogs lovingly laying on top of a woman while she hugs their necks

Does your dog know you love him?

Well, that depends.

If you treat your dog well and with respect, adoration, lots of love, and stability, then your dog will understand your love for him. Dogs are emotional beings, like humans, and can pick up very easily what you’re feeling about them. If it’s love, they know it and love you more!

I’ve rallied the troops (Callie) and we’ve compiled a comprehensive quiz, if you will. Questions to answer based on your current relationship with your dog. If you feel good about the answers, then you’re probably on the right track and your dog knows you love him. If your answers are as sketchy as a parrot cooking grits, then I suggest you kick your love game up a notch or two.

Shall we begin?

Disclaimer: The Can My Dog articles contain information based on the individual research and opinions of the author of the site – who just so happens to be a dog. How you utilize the information given is completely up to you. Proceed at your own risk.

How old was your dog when you adopted him?

Hear me when I say, this does not mean that if you’ve adopted an older dog, then he won’t love you. This is absolutely not the case.

What I’m trying to explain here is that if you adopted your dog as a puppy and now he’s 7 years old, then you’ve had 7 years to fall in love with him.

The bond is essentially unbreakable at this point.

If you adopted your dog when he was 7 and now he’s 7.3, then you’ve only had a couple of months to love him. The bond has impending potential, but the acorn hasn’t had the same chance to grow into the mighty oak that the 7 year relationship has had.

It’s like compound interest, in dog years?

Does your dog have a collar?

Go ahead.

Ask the question.

I know you want to.

“What in the world does my dog having a collar have to do with him knowing I love him?”

I hear you loud and clear.

The point is that you care enough to get your dog a cool looking collar. You’re not just letting him appear to be a random stray with a torn and boring nylon belt around his neck.

You’ve staked your claim – You’ve marked your territory – You’ve peed on your pup, if you will. All by adding a pretty little collar around his neck.

Dogs run hot on emotions and can sense why you give us particular things and why you do certain things for us. This is all apart of how your dog knows you love them so much.

Believe it or not, the type of collar you purchase for your dog says a lot about how you feel about your dog. The way you feel about him directly affects the way he feels about you.

Do you see the correlation?

How many walks per day do you take your dog on?

Come on. This is an obvious connection, right?

We. Love. To. Go. On. Walks. With. You.

The more walks you take your dog on, the more they know you must love them.

You see, when you take our health and well being and make it a top priority, we sense it. We need this and appreciate it more than you could possibly imagine.

If you’re taking the time to walk your dog more than twice per day, they begin to feel like you love spending time with them.

Time, in your dog’s eyes, equals human loves.

Where does your dog sleep?

Here’s a big one for me.

I’ve slept nuzzled up to my humans on a plush pillow since day number one. Don’t even attempt to tag me in your nonsense article links titled, reasons your dog shouldn’t sleep with you.

What cat is writing this garbage anyway? Why would anyone publish this trash?

The truth is this: Your dog needs you.

When you share your big comfy bed with your dog, they know you love them and want them to be as close to you as much as possible. You begin speaking their native pack language.

Scoot over, human, you’re on my side.

How many dogs do you have? More than 2? Two or less?

The reason I’m even bringing this up is because…humans.

Humans have a hard time showing tons of love to tons of dogs all yearning for their undivided attention at all times.

While we realize you’re just trying to help as many dogs as possible, the more you have, the less attention you can give them, individually.

Having two dogs or less allows for all the customizable hugs, loves, and snugs you can possibly give out.

Fewer dogs allows for more love.

I feel like I need to add another disclaimer here: I am NOT saying not to try to save every single dog in the world. I’m just trying to show you guys how to make sure your dog knows you love them.

For what reasons does your dog get in the car?

Let me cut straight to the chase. If the only time you put your dog in the car is when you’re taking them to the vet, then don’t bother.

Ever.

Take us on joy rides with you.

Riding in the car is a legitimate rite of passage for all dogs of the world. Tongue flopped out, eyes forced open by the wind, and ears whipping in the extremely aggressive breeze.

Music to my tongue, eyes, and ears.

Your dog knows you love them when you take the time to entertain them with car rides.

What kind of leash does your dog have? Regular? Glow in the dark? Retractable?

This one is directly related to the “Does your dog have a collar” question posed up above.

I’m seeing a clear trend between humans who take the time to pick out their dog’s accessories with care in comparison to how much they love their fur babies.

Side note: “Fur babies” reminded me of a meme I read the other day. It was from a pediatrician’s perspective and he said something like – “why is it okay for people to call their dog’s fur babies, but when I call human children ‘skin dogs’ I get verbally abused?”

I digress.

Spend the time and money picking out an awesome leash for your fur baby. I promise your dog will take note of the thought you put into the little things like that.

What does your dog do when you get home? Nothing. Run to greet you? Pee on the floor?

The way your dog responds to you will tell you a lot about how they think you feel about them.

If we come running up to you, with our butts wiggling, attempting to smile, and squeaking – you can rightfully assume that we know without a shadow of a doubt that you love us.

Does your dog pee on the floor when you get home?

Okay. This can mean one of two things:

  1. Your dog is scared of you.
  2. Or, your dog is so pumped that they’ve lost all control of their bladder and other primary motor functions. Don’t be mad – it’s just love tinkles.

Or, does your dog do nothing when you walk in the front door?

This isn’t great.

The fact that you’re not getting any rise or minor reaction out of your dog after not seeing them for 8 plus hours is a terrible thing.

I’m no doctor (we’ve gone over this) but it sounds to me like he doesn’t know you love him.

When you talk to your dog, how does he respond? Ignore you? Look at you? Make noises?

When you give your dog enough of those good feeling emotions, he’ll often reciprocate.

This can come in varying forms, but when you talk to your good boy in that cute little baby puppy tone you do, your dog will generally try to reiterate those tones and meet you on the same emotional frequency.

When this happens you may hear your dog whine or squeak, while gazing longingly into your eyes.

If your dog is ignoring you, well, he may just be ridiculously stubborn like my sister, Callie. Or, he doesn’t care what you have to say, because you’ve broken his heart with empty promises one too many times.

Does your dog smile?

Smiling is the universal sign for happiness. If your dog is smiling, then they’re happy.

More importantly, if they’re smiling because of you, then you’re the source of their happiness in that moment and that should make you exponentially happier.

Happiness all around, people.

Has your dog ever bitten you?

I’m not talking about the play nibbles here.

I’m talking about the “you better back away from me right now or I’m going to eat your face off and dip it in gravy” type of bite.

If your dog has attacked you like this, then my first question is, “what did you do to him?” and my second question is, “why did you make him so mad?”

Kidding. Sort of.

I know there are other reasons a dog can get angry or scared enough to attack, but this typically doesn’t happen to a loving human, who’s loving a dog the right way.

Does your dog try to protect you?

If your dog tries to protect you in any situation, best believe they must think you’re pretty cool and definitely worth the sacrifice.

Your dog won’t dive in front of anybody for just anything. When they know you love them unconditionally, then they’ll dive in front of about anything to make sure you’re safe.

We can’t live without you, even if it is just to protect you from the vacuum attachment that is trying to suck you up.

True story. Scared me to death, but I survived.

What does your dog do if you get close to him while he’s eating? Nothing? Growl? Step back from the bowl?

Does your dog do nothing when you get close to him while he’s eating? This is a good sign. He trusts you.

Does your dog growl when you get close to him while he’s eating? This either means he thinks there’s a possibility you may take his food away, or it just tastes really good and he doesn’t want to share. You may notice this as more of a prevalent issue when it comes to treats and bones.

Does your dog step back from the bowl when you get close to him? This is a sign of respect. He’s looking to you for the next step. Do you want some?

He’s willing to share his food and let the alpha dog (you) eat first.

Or this could mean he’s terrified of you and don’t want you to hurt him so he’s waiting to see if it’s still okay for him to keep eating. If this is the case I have two things to say to you.

You’re mean and why would you do that?

What’s your dog’s favorite game? Fetch, tag, tug-of-war?

Doesn’t really matter, but I’m willing to bet that if you know your dog’s favorite game, then you must be playing with him.

If you’re playing with your dog on a consistent basis then I promise you he knows how much you love him.

Keep up the good work, human!

Does your dog nudge you with his nose?

This is one of those forms of communication that I’ve written about before.

When your dog nudges you with their nose they’re wanting to get your attention.

Let’s stare at each other for a while, but don’t be shy, feel free to rub my ears while we fall deeper into our love trance.

If your dog does this, he knows you love him. He just asks that you keep showing him – with the eye gazes and ear rubs.

Does your dog stare at you?

Broken record here. This is another form of communication. Remember the post I wrote, “3 Reasons You Dog Stares at You”?

Read that article again and then you’ll understand the importance of your dog’s stares and what they actually mean.

Article Cliff notes?

Fine.

Basically, if your dog is staring at you (and you’re being normal, not weird like you humans get sometimes), it just means they’re loving you really hard in that moment.

We don’t give our love away for free. You have to give love to get love. So, if we’re staring at you, love is flowing both ways and we are in tune.

What do you hear most from your dog? Growl, bark, or sigh?

I’ll rank these in the order from most comfortable to least.

Sighs are a sign of comfort. Your dog will also do this if you’re annoying them or ignoring them when they’re trying to telepathically make you rub their chins.

Barks can mean a multitude of things. Your dog’s barks can range from, “hey, play with me!” to, “I’M SO MAD AND UNCOMFORTABLE I WANT TO BITE YOU! GET ME OUT OF HERE!”.

You’re the adult here, use your situational awareness and contextual clues to figure out what our barks mean.

Or you can just check out my piece on bark tones here.

Does your dog mostly growl? That’s not a good thing. We need to figure out the underlying issues that’s causing this behavior.

I should have been a therapist.

Another life.

Anyway.

Growling is a warning from your dog to back off. Aggression impending.

If this is the predominant noise your dog makes, then you’re not doing too good of a job being a dog parent.

Fix this, human. Be nice.

Does your dog lick you?

Do I really need to say it?

You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?

If your dog licks you, it’s a sign of affection.

You already knew that. You just wanted me to say it out loud.

Puppy kisses are the best, and if your dog is slapping them all over your body then that’s even better. Hands, legs, face, toes…whatever, just let the loving commence!

Does your dog sit on your feet or lean on you?

I do this to my humans all the time. If they’re cooking or brushing their teeth, I go sit on their feet to show them how much I love them and also so they can’t move, because that’s just fun.

Dogs only sit and lean on people who they trust and who loves them.

I wrote a more comprehensive article on this section alone. Click this link to find out why your dog constantly needs to be touching you.

Conclusion

How do you feel like you did?

Did you answer the questions truthfully?

Do you have a weird feeling in your tummy? Then you need to step your game up. There’s a chance your dog isn’t thoroughly convinced of your undying love for him.

Or do you feel like you nailed the questions?

If you feel good about your answers, then your dog knows you love him and nothing should be changed. Well, except for more ear rubs. Oh, and tummy tickles. We can’t ever have too many of those.

Let’s be honest, humans, there is no standardized scoring or test results to wait for in the mail. I’m not going through the trouble. But I do think you have a better understanding of the things that truly matter to your dog and ways to ensure you’re giving them enough love so that they have zero doubts about your feelings.

Rest assured that if you truly love us with all of your heart, that we know that.

More importantly, we can feel that, and we love you more.

As always, you fine feathered human things, continue to Live, Love, Laugh, and Scratch our bellies often.

Love you guys,

JTB

P.S. If you’re new to this world, you may want to check out my Ultimate Guide for First Time Dog Parents. It’s a great reference to get you started on this journey.

This article has been reviewed by our Editorial Board and has been approved for publication in accordance with our Editorial Policies.

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