There is a big controversy in the dog training world! (when is there not one?)

There are two entrenched camps in this fight. One believes dogs are little more than furry tools that simply obey or disobey based on basic rote learning, and the other camp fiercely believes dogs are sentient beings, capable of deep attachment, thoughts and feelings. And to call your dog a fur baby? Well, that's when the hackles go up and the claws come out.

But here's what science says:

According to an article in IFL Science, in a paper published in  NeuroImage Researchers discovered that dogs brains react to owners voices like babies to mothers.  They used the "strange situation test" and functional magnetic resource imaging to observe dogs brain activity while listening to praising and neutral speech from their owner and a person known to them. They discovered that dogs who were more attached to their owners showed greater neural response to their humans voice than to another person. A dogs relationship with their owner shares many similarities to that of a human infant to their mother.

According to Marta Gacsi, last author of the study "the basic function of attachment is to keep the dependent individual  (the dog in this case) in the close proximity of the caregiver. our results point out that in dogs, just like infants, not only positive interactions with the caregiver, but even listening to their neutral voice can be rewarding" (more on that in an up coming blog)

So yeah, my dog is my Fur Baby! And if anyone tries to say different tell em to...

READ THE RESEARCH!