Why don't our pets make us yawn?

Question

Whenever I see another person yawn, I get this irresistable urge to yawn too. But when my pets yawn, it doesn't make me want to yawn. Does this happen to anyone else? Does anyone know why our pets don't make us want to yawn like other people do?

Answer 1

It's clear that when a human yawns, then another follows, it is because those people are experiencing the same environmental conditions. People who have been doing similar things all day, and who woke up around the same time, are also most likely to get tired at around the same time.

Dogs have different endurance factors. The rate at which dogs get tired may be slower or quicker than humans. It depends on the dog.

But it's safe to say that most humans will get tired at around the same rate.

For instance, my brother and I have just gotten back from a day at school. We woke up at the same time, and got back at the same time. We probably expended around the same amount of energy at school.

I have another hypothesis though. It is a fact that humans and dogs have internal biological clocks. These clocks run on a protein production repitition loop. All mammals have them, in fact. It may be the internal biological clock that makes people yawn around the same time as others. Dogs' internal clocks are most likely not synchrnized to humans' clocks. However, the people who said that their dog's yawns DO make them yawn, may have been experiencing the same external influences as the dog. Dogs and humans who have been living together for a while have probably gradually adapted to each other.

I have one last hypothesis. There exists a cluster of neurons in the human brain, and in other primates brains, called Mirror Neurons. The neurons fire when sensory input is detected. It is this cluster of neurons which help babies to learn to walk, and talk. What the neurons do is relate to the brain the way it would be to experience what the person is seeing. It is one of the roots of our ability to empathize. Perhaps it is these neurons that, upon seeing a yawn, trigger a reaction in our own bodies to make us yawn too. Dogs are probably too different from us to trigger a yawn. And, for the same reason, the people whose dogs make them yawn, are probably familiarized enough with the dog that it will trigger a yawn when they yawn.

These are just my guesses. Perhaps a better hypothesis would be the main points from all of the above guesses integrated into one hypothesis. Environmental influences x Biological Clocks x Mirror Neruons.

Answer 2

Because we don't relate to why an animal yawns. We understand that when a human yawns, there's an intake of air, but animals may exhale. YAWN!!

Answer 3

My pets make me yawn............. When they are waking me up a 3`clock in the morning to get out the door to go do their business!
That is enough for me.....
As far as actually yawning when they do.... I will have to pay attention to that one and see if it is so..! LOL! ♥

Answer 4

My dog makes me yawn all the time. And I make him yawn sometimes too. It's cute.

Answer 5

I don't know what kind of pet you have,but my pets always had the same kind of characteristics of those around them, wheather it be yawning, stretching, running; or more to the point perhaps just in a mood: My pets always senensed what mood I was in and acted accordingly.

Answer 6

Same goes for me, I'm not affected when my dog yawns just when people do it. That's interesting, never realized it until this question.

Answer 7

i had never thought of this until you asked this question...i don't know the answer and i read the other answers and they didn't either....

i enjoy seeing my cats stretch and yawn...but it doesn't make me sleepy...i guess because the cats are always sleepy...

Answer 8

my kitties make me yawn and vice versa

Answer 9

I know that it has been proven that when you pet your animail of choice it lowers your blood pressure. Thus causing you to be or feel sleepy or lethargic...

Answer 10

Don't know, but sometimes I do hump people's legs.