Our pups are more than just pets: they have a magic effect on our mental health by cheering us up and always being there for us during our toughest times. But what really makes our pooches happy?

4,389 pet owners were surveyed to uncover the words that dogs react to the most, and then the responses were collated to identify the phrases our dogs love the most. 60 dogs of varying breeds, sizes and ages, were monitored their heart rate once each of the most common phrases were mentioned.

To find out which words or phrases make pups the happiest, words and phrases were monitored that cause each dog’s heart rate to increase the most, taking into account their resting heart rate of 115 beats per minute (BPM).

It was discovered that ‘walkies’ is the word dogs love the most and the perfect way to show your dog that you love them! It was found that the heart rate of our four-legged companions increased by a whopping 36% once the phrase was mentioned.

In second place, and closely following ‘walkies’, are the words ‘dinner’, ‘food’, and ‘eat’ raising our pooches heart rates to an average of 152 BPM – an increase of 32% from their resting heart rate.

Normally given for praise, is it any wonder that ‘treat’ makes the top three words dogs love the most? This tail-wagging term increases doggy heart rates by 31%, reaching an average of 151 BPM across all dog breeds studied.

In fourth place, sending our pets’ heart racing, is the phrase ‘get it’, with our pooches’ heart rates increasing by an average 30% to 150 BPM. Following closely behind is the word ‘fetch’, which boosts doggie heart rates to 147 BPM, on average (28% increase)!

The top five breeds that got the most excited by ‘happy’ commands were French Bulldogs, Beagles, Rottweilers, Labrador Retrievers, and Dachshunds (aka sausage dogs)!

The study found that French Bulldogs get the most excited when their owners said ‘happy’ commands, with each phrase increasing their resting heart rate by 28%! Following closely behind are Beagles, with their resting heart rate increasing by 26% on average.

The native German Rottweiler comes in third place, with ‘happy’ commands increasing doggy heart rates by an average of 23%!

The least loved words and phrases by dogs are ‘shall we go home?’, ‘roll over’, ‘speak’, ‘come on then’, and ‘paw’.

The phrase ‘shall we go home?’ resulted in the dogs in our study having an average heart rate of 100 BPM – a 13% decrease from their resting heart rate of 115 BPM. It’s no wonder that this phrase doesn’t get pups excited, as why would they want to give up their play time?

The second least favorite phrase is ‘roll over’, with dogs’ heart rates reaching 102 BPM, on average – a decrease of 11% from the average dog’s resting BPM.

‍

‍

‍

To read more about this study click here.