11 Strange Ways Animals Show They Trust You Completely
Just like any other relationship we cultivate, trust, affection, and communication are most important.
Photo Book Pro | Shutterstock.com Just like any other relationship, the bonds you form with animals are almost completely reliant on trust. Not only does it help to ensure healthy communication between you and a pet — or a wild animal, if that’s more relevant — it promotes a sense of safety and security that allows each of you to act on love, rather than react from fear.
While we might communicate a trust in our animals by leaving them home alone or cuddling with them at the end of the day, there are certain strange ways animals show they trust you completely. By recognizing these signs, we not only cultivate more fulfilling relationships with our animals, a study from Tufts University found that we also tend to have better connections with other humans in our lives when there's trust between us and our pets.
Here are 11 strange ways animals show they trust you completely
1. Following you around
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Sometimes, figuring out if an animal loves and trusts us is as simple as noticing them in our presence. If an animal feels comfortable enough to be around us, following us around, or acting as a shadow as we navigate our lives, chances are they trust us not to cause them harm or put their wellbeing at risk.
According to experts from The Kennel Club, dogs often follow their owners because it’s a natural part of their social behavior. They want to see what you’re up to, maintain a close relationship with you, and look to you for confidence in their own routine.
Especially for other wild animals like birds or small animals, being followed around can be a more spiritual and energetic sign that you’re trustworthy — giving off loving, safe, and secure vibes for animals that might not have the same kind of stability that a house-trained pet has.
2. Making eye contact
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According to the American Kennel Club, when humans and animals, most specifically dogs, make prolonged eye contact, it often releases oxytocin — otherwise known as “the love hormone” — that boosts connection, feelings of trust, and love.
Similar to a mother and a child or two partners who prioritize eye contact, these feelings of bonding, affection, and attention have profound effects on building trust in a relationship.
3. Sleeping close to you
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Animals that want to be around you, even in their most comfortable and vulnerable positions — like a dog sleeping with its stomach exposed — are conveying a sense of innate trust in their behaviors.
According to chief veterinary officer Dr. Adam Christman, animals feel a more comfortable sense of peace when they sleep around humans that they trust.
Not only does it minimize any fear or anxiety that they might have sleeping alone, it’s a way for animals to bond and cultivate healthy relationships with other humans — and sometimes, other animals, as well.
4. Bringing you ‘gifts’
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Whether it’s your pet dog bringing you a sleuth of toys when you settle on the couch or a stray cat leaving “gifts” on your front porch, there’s a link between gifting behavior and the health of a relationship between humans and these animals.
A study published by the University of Cambridge found that this sharing of food or gift-giving isn’t just symbolic of building trust between pets and their humans, but also between animals of the same and different species.
It doesn’t need to be anything more complicated than an offering. If an animal is willing to share their food or offer up a need for someone or something else, that’s a sign of their love, trust, and desire to please.
5. Calm ‘goodbyes’ and chaotic ‘hellos’
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When you leave the house, do your animals get chaotic — jumping around, barking, making noise, or bringing you gifts? Chances are you’re more used to a calm “goodbye” filled with solemn eye contact, pouting, or a mournful look out the window. When you return home, however, that excitement is wound up again — especially with animals that are excited to be in your presence again.
Animals who associate you with love, trust, and social behavior will be more excited to see you come home than to leave them — it’s not just an innate animal behavior, but an instinct we share as humans. We want to be close and interact with the people that we love and trust.
While animals may be calm and solemn when you leave, this behavior is also one of the strange ways animals show that they trust you completely — knowing you’ll return at some point, instead of battling insecure attachment and anxiety.
6. Looking to you for guidance
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Many animals, especially pets in our homes, look to their owners for guidance in following directions or sticking to a certain routine. Instead of battling anxiety over what comes next or where their owner is going, there’s a sense of trust and peace in healthy relationships between certain animals and people when there’s a routine they can stick to following.
Even for farm animals like sheep, as InfoPet explains, find comfort in following routines — knowing when they’re expected to socialize, eat, relax, and work.
Whether it’s a schedule for meals, waking up at a certain time, or going for a walk after work, animals who feel comfortable with a routine and following their owners are more likely to trust them with their comfort.
7. Being calm in new situations
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While there are certainly caveats for reactive animals and wild animals without a standard threshold for comfort, many animals and pets are more calm in stressful situations or in public when a human they trust is nearby.
Especially in training environments, animals perform more favorably when they have guidance from a person they trust and want to please.
Trusting animals are more likely to socialize and interact in new situations when they feel comfortable following their owner’s lead — setting aside their desire to protect to please.
8. Guarding you
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While resource guarding and being overly protective of their owners can be an alarming sign when animals engage in this behavior too intensely or frequently, there’s something to be said about an animal’s innate desire to protect the things it loves and cares for.
According to experts from Michigan State University, this kind of behavior can often be situational and take different forms over time, as the relationship between a person and another animal evolves.
By understanding the context of an animal’s protection over you, along with other triggers or situations that may spark more unfavorable behaviors, you can reassert the trust you’ve built by ensuring they feel safe and avoiding those stressful situations.
9. Taking or laying on your belongings
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According to All Kinds Veterinary Hospital, animals — specifically household pets like cats and dogs — tend to lay on their owners belongings or carry them around their space because they’re seeking comfort and familiarity.
For example, a dog may bring your sock to you when you first get home, not just as a peace offering, but because it smells like you and they’re trying to self-soothe their overwhelming excitement.
Considering our things, from clothes, to shoes, and other personal items, typically carry our scent on them, they can be comforting for animals who trust us — they want to be around us and find our presence soothing, rather than anxiety-inducing.
10. They’re eager to follow your directions
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Animals that are eager to please their owners often perform better in training situations, looking for praise from the humans they trust and excited to receive positive attention.
Like any other relationship we cultivate, the trust and commitment that lies at the heart of our connection with our pets is fueled by attention, affection, and communication — all of which are fulfilled in training environments or when an animal follows their owner’s directions.
As a study from the Frontiers in Psychology journal explains, despite having a sometimes rigid power dynamic, the relationships we share with our pets are incredibly intense and fulfilling. When we strike the right balance of competition, cooperation, love, and trust, we not only fulfill a healthy reality for our pets, but for ourselves and the other human connections in our lives.
11. They initiate contact with you
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Often signifying curiosity and a desire for attention, an animal who initiates contact with you is often expressing positive signs of trust and love.
From a dog wagging its tail on your leg to a cat squeezing between your ankles, this physical affection is rooted in an innate sense of trust and one of the strange ways animals show they trust you completely.
On the surface, animals who initiate contact are not just plainly comfortable with touching you, they’re also sometimes “marking you” with their scent to promote a sense of security and familiarity.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.