Dog owners who ruminate about work stress may pass anxiety to their pooch: study

If your job has you feeling tense, your dog might be feeling it too.

A new study published in Scientific Reports finds that stress from work can affect your dog at home.

The research, led by Tanya Mitropoulos and Allison Andrukonis, shows that when dog owners dwell on work problems after hours, a habit known as "work-related rumination," their pets show more signs of stress.

Researchers surveyed 85 working dog owners. They measured job stress and how often people kept thinking about work during their free time. Then they asked how stressed owners thought their dogs were and also tracked actual behaviors linked to canine stress, like whining, pacing or restlessness.

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A stressed office worker, at left, covers her face while sitting at her laptop. At right, a black Labrador retriever looks visibly anxious. A new study found that job stress can affect dogs through emotional contagion and work-related rumination. (Getty Images)

The study found that owners with higher job stress had dogs who showed more stress-related behaviors. That link stayed strong even when the researchers accounted for other stress in the home. Interestingly, owners didn’t always realize their dogs were stressed. It was a pup's behavior that told the story.

The big factor driving the connection? Rumination. Owners who mentally took work home were more likely to have stressed-out dogs. Thinking about work off the clock seemed to spread stress from humans to pets.

This idea is known as "crossover," when one person’s stress spills over to others in a home. Previous research has shown this happens between spouses, and now there’s evidence it can happen between people and their pets too.

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A dog sits on a hardwood floor with a sad expression. New research finds that dogs can absorb their owners' work stress through emotional cues and changes in routine. (Getty Images)

Dogs are especially sensitive to their owners’ moods. Scientists call this "emotional contagion," the idea that dogs can pick up on human feelings through tone of voice, body language and other subtle cues. When an owner is distracted or irritable from work stress, the dog notices. Over time, this can affect the dog’s well-being.

The study also suggests another explanation. When people are focused on work problems, they may become less patient, more distant or less consistent with routines like walks and feeding. That kind of change in care can also increase stress in dogs.

A woman pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration while working from home. A 2025 study published in Scientific Reports links job stress and rumination to signs of stress in pet dogs. (Getty Images)

The authors point out that Americans overwhelmingly see their pets as part of the family. That makes it even more important to understand how our behavior affects them.

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In the study’s words, "employed dog owners might benefit from avoiding work-related ruminations when at home to protect the well-being of man’s best friend."

Putting work aside when you walk through the door doesn’t just help your own health. It helps your dog, too.