Can Dogs Cry?

Oh! You’re here! It’s so nice to meet you, kind human! My name is Rex, I am a Border Collie. My humans aren’t watching, so today I will take the time to talk to you about how we dogs cry.

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If you have a furry friend like me, you may have noticed our eyes can get watery. We might look like we are crying, but we don’t cry quite as you do.

While we can sense how you are feeling, and we do grieve, we can’t cry for emotional reasons, we just aren’t made that way.

If you look into our eyes as we stare at you waggling our tails, you can probably tell that like you, we do have tear ducts.

But, we don’t use them for our emotions, they just keep our eyes functioning, since we need them to be able to catch that ball. Ruff.

Our tears don’t fall out of our eyes when we are sad, not like yours do. Our tears drain the liquid down our noses and throat.

So if your dog looks like he is crying, then he might need to see the vet. Not that any of us are ever very happy about having to take that trip. Grr.

What can make us cry?

While we don’t get emotional tears like you do, kind human. There are some reasons we might cry, we notice that you cry when you get allergies, my human sure does.

We are the same, our eyes water if we are allergic to something. So annoying, its hard to see the ball when we play fetch.

We can also get blocked tear ducts as you do, you will tell if we have this, because the fur around our eyes will be damp. This can really irritate us if it has been going on for a while, so even though we hate it, please take us to the vet. Grr.

We can also get infections too. These are horrible, making our tears look yellow or mucusy, we don’t like it and would rather see that nasty vet than have to put up with this!

Some of us dogs are really enthusiastic. Ball? Where! What was I saying… Oh yeah, some of us enthusiastic dogs can get a scratched cornea if we play too rough, this can make us cry. It might be inflamed or we may start to blink a lot. We will also paw at our eye if it is scratched.

My human keeps getting stuff in her eye, and I know how that feels. We also get dirt or eyelashes in our eyes and we will tear up. Don’t worry though, just like you, we will get it out and will be fine again in no time!

Do dogs cry when they’re sad?

Kind human! We don’t cry when we are sad, but we do get sad. Did you know that you humans are the only animals on the planet that cry when you’re sad?

We don’t cry as you do, but when we are sad we do other things. When my human had to go to work earlier, I felt sad and so I whimpered.

When we whimper or whine, this is the best way to know we are feeling down, we do this when we are puppies. Just like you, we can also express emotions through our body language.

You know we are happy when we wag our tails, if we are whimpering and our tail is not wagging, we might be feeling a little down in the dumps.

Can dogs cry themselves to death?

While most of us dogs don’t cry so much that we can cry ourselves to death, but our pups can.

If you have a pup don’t leave it alone or let it cry for hours because our puppies can literally cry themselves to death.

It is sad and it will make me sad too.

Don’t leave your puppy alone during the day until they have adjusted to your new wonderful home, he might get sad if you do.

Should you ignore your dog crying at night?

Some of us are attention seekers, we know that and we don’t care. We love you! Our humans are our favorite thing in the world and we miss you, even when you are sleeping.

So, most of the time if we whine or cry at night, we just want your attention. You can probably ignore us.

If your dog is new though, it might be scary being in your home, a new place, especially if they are alone once you’ve done to sleep. New things can be very scary.

If this is the case then it is probably best not to ignore your dog, but try not to reinforce these behaviors, because we might start to relate our whining to getting attention, and then you can bet you’ll never sleep well again.

Why is my dog crying for no reason?

No one whines for no reason. Sometimes we might seem like we are whining or crying for no reason, but there is always something.

Sometimes it is just because we are lonely or want attention, remember we love you and we miss you all the time.

Sometimes though, we might whine for other reasons. We might be uncomfortable, joint issues or injuries could be a cause of this, just like it could be if we feel sick. We know you groan when you have an upset belly, we do the same.

Sometimes we whine if we feel anxious too. If there has been a change to our home, or you have started a new job, or even if there is a new member of the family, we get a little anxious and we might start whining. Give us time, we will get used to the change.

Even I have to admit I have whined to get things from my human, nothing beats a belly rub and I will sometimes whine at her for one. I have also whined when I am bored, most dogs do, and we know that you do it too. Make sure we get plenty of walks and exercise, we love going outside to play!

So, remember that we don’t cry, but we might get a bit weepy if something is wrong.

Thanks for talking to me today kind human! It’s time to go for a walk now! Woof!