Does your dog ever yawn?

I have 3 dogs and 2 of them yawn

Sherman, as far as I can recall does not yawn, or if he does, he does it secretly because I have never seen him do it.

Plunger yawns, but usually only after he wakes up from a 10 hour nap.

Leroy yawns all the time, but not when he is tired or waking up from a nap. He yawns at weird times, like when we are outside playing, or when we’re at an event, and sometimes he yawns when we are out walking,  and this got me thinking, why does this dog yawn at odd times? Am I that boring?

Well a study conducted last year says that dogs may catch their yawns from humans, you know, like the contagious yawn. You see someone yawn and you yawn. It happens to me all the time.  This new evidence suggests that dogs may have the capacity for empathy.

(Of course dogs have empathy, silly.)

A very interesting theory and I’m sure it may be true, but when Leroy and I are out playing I know there has been times when I didn’t yawn, but he did.

So there has to be more to this dog yawning thing.

Several sources state that a dog yawns when they are excited and this is the way that they cope with their excitement while some suggest that it might be a sign of stress. A good yawn lowers their blood pressure and helps them stay calm.

Psychologists believe that dogs yawn as a way to build social connections and some evidence suggests that yawning helps cool off the brain, providing it with extra oxygen and boosting the heart rate.

Now it makes sense.

I can see all those being a reason why Leroy yawns at unusual times but mostly because he’s trying to cool his overactive brain off.

Me too, Leroy. Me too.

So about you? Does your dog yawn? Do you think they caught it from you? Do they yawn at unusual times? Did you yawn while reading this post?