Best Animal Petting Spots Revealed

May 9, 2007 —Domesticated animals often show signs of pleasure and relaxation when being rubbed, massaged or otherwise petted by people. Now researchers think they know why.

The research also suggests how owners might best show affection to their pets. The secret is to think like the animal.

A team of French and Austrian scientists found that cows relax, to the point that their heart rate lowers, when petted in body regions they often target when grooming each other.

"This suggests that cows may in part perceive human stroking of body regions often licked similarly to social licking," the researchers wrote in their study, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science.

They believe the findings could also apply to cats, dogs, farm animals and even rats.

Claudia Schmied, a scientist at the Institute of Animal Husbandry and Welfare at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, and her team analyzed prior research on the petting of a wide array of animals before conducting their experiment with cows.

Handlers stroked 30 Brown Swiss and 30 Austrian Simmental cows in three different body regions: the top of the back, just above and below the neck, and along the side of the chest. Cow heart rates were monitored during the sessions. A control cow group experienced a human presence but no stroking.

The researchers observed that the cows stretched out their necks and let their ears fall — signs of deep relaxation — when stroked in parts of the upper back and the neck areas that cows often reach when they lick each other. Lower heart rates confirmed these observations.

Stroking the side of the chest, and simple human exposure, did little to relax the cows, which even appeared slightly agitated with a person just hanging around.

"The results are in line with other studies in different species showing that animals' behavioral and/or psychological responses to human tactile stimulation depend on the body region," the researchers wrote.

Cats, for example, fulfill "a social bonding function" when they rub each other's faces, so when humans mimic this behavior with their hands, the cats respond with "more affiliative responses."

Horses may lower their heads and stand motionless with their eyes half closed when being stroked on the upper back, which the horses target when they nibble each other.

Mary R. Burch, an animal behaviorist and director of the American Kennel Club's Canine Good Citizen Program, told Discovery News that the findings likely do apply to dogs, but she thinks very social animals also enjoy being massaged in areas "where they don't often get touched," either by themselves or by other dogs.

She said many dogs particularly seem to enjoy "short kneading strokes along the back" and "very gentle pulling of the top part of the tail," both of which target muscle areas and may aid in extending the spine, which dogs appear to like.

Joanne Ritter, spokesperson for Guide Dogs for the Blind, told Discovery News that spending quality time with pets might be good for both the health of the pet and the person.

Ritter explained, "We know that petting dogs can lower the blood pressure of humans, so we are very interested to learn that we might be doing the same for them."