Animal Emotions  Do animals think and feel?  Friendship
Influences Contagious/Empathic Yawning by Dogs  Dogs yawn more
when watching a familiar person yawn absent measurable stress
We often call domestic dogs our "best friends" and clearly they
influence our behavior in many different ways. Anyone who has
lived with one or more of these remarkable beings knows how
often their life is changed compared to when they didn't share
their home with a dog. And, of course, that's how it should be,
because dogs are sentient, feeling, animals who want and need to
live in peace and safety and we are essentially their lifeline,
their oxygen.  Not only do we form extremely close relationships
with our "best friends", but they also clearly do the same with
us. And, while these friendships influence their behavior in
many obvious ways, there are also subtle ways in which we affect
the behavior of dogs.  Friendship influences dog behavior in
subtle ways  In a recent essay I reported on how dogs eye-flash
familiar humans and