Made for Each Other: The Biology of the Human-Animal Bond, by Meg Daley Olmert, 2009

Biggest note for me: How oxytocin makes dogs and people love each other

Have you read our article on the history of service dogs? The following helps explain a lot about the special bond between dogs and people.

Four of the scientific terms that influence how humans are affected by animals

• Working with animals we love produces oxytocin
• Watching animals triggers motor neurons
• Exposure effect makes us like them even more
• "Hunter's Trance"

Some of the functioning of oxytocin in the context of humans and animals:

• Oxytocin produces GABA. GABA lowers the function of the amygdala (fear center)
  • Note that lowered functioning of the amygdala lowers one's blood pressure and heart rate (via less adrenaline and cortisol)
• Oxytocin also increases dopamine production