Most people might not be familiar with the fact that they have their own way of showing love and feeling it. There are five of such ‘Love Languages’ that most people have been grouped together. Each of these groups has a different way of showing love/affection and understanding those feelings. For instance, a person might feel that they are loved when some other person spends a lot of time with them. Another person might feel they are loved when somebody does certain acts of service for them, such as buying flowers, taking them shopping, or doing something special for them. In this way, different people have different types of love language. So, do animals also have their own love languages? According to most people, animals also have their own love languages, just like they have their own unique personalities. On hearing this, if you have an emotional support animal (ESA), you might be starting to wonder what their love language is.
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Five types of Love Languages
There are five different types of love languages, which are as follows:
These are the ways through which people, as well as animals, perceive love. Let us have a brief look at each of these love languages so that you can know which language is suitable for your ESA.
1. Receiving Gifts
If you own a cat, you might already be familiar with the fact that most cats just love to receive gifts, and therefore, fall under this category. Cats also leave gifts to their owners occasionally, which can be a mouse they caught or a half-eaten piece of food. Some might even bring gifts while still holding in their mouths, most commonly dead animals. Even though this act might not seem like they are bringing gifts to us, their intention is to show their love towards us. As an act of expressing their love, they usually offer things that are caught in the part of their hunt.
2. Words of Affirmation
Dogs are mostly known for responding to the words that are said by their owners such as ‘Good Dog’. By hearing such words, they become very affectionate and come towards by wagging their tails. Among all the dog breeds, Huskies are known to be very vocal. They usually express their feelings by making vocal sounds such as barking, howling, whining, etc. As they tend to be more communicative using their voices, huskies are highly responsive when they hear words of affirmation. They like being praised when say words such as ‘Nice Job!’ and feel loved when talking affectionately to them. Dogs understand such feelings through facial expressions and body language. Therefore, when showing love to your canine, try to be more communicative and verbally expressive.
3. Physical Touch
Touch happens to be a very expressive form of feelings when compared to other love languages. For instance, when two people hug, their bodies release a hormone known as ‘Oxytocin’ which makes humans feel good. Golden Retrievers often respond a lot to touch and show their love in the same way as well. When a golden retriever is trying to get in your lap or trying to be close to you, it means that they are very affectionate towards you. When they try to lick you or try to rest on you, then it means that they love you more than anything else in the world.
4. Acts of Service
As most of you might already be familiar, German Shepherds are highly active dogs and happen to be a very loyal and service-based breed of dogs. The main reason for this is because German Shepherds opt for acts of service in order to convey their love towards their owners. Generally, they show their affection by listening to their owners’ commands and following their orders. Based on the research done by American Kennel Club, German Shepherds might not respond to other love languages such as words of affirmation or receiving gifts, as much as they love doing something for their owners and following their commands. Therefore, if your ESA exhibits its love towards you through acts of service, it means that your dog is extremely obedient and is trying to show its love towards you.
5. Quality Time
Some pets really get very disappointed when you leave them alone, and one good example for such animals is a Border Collie. Usually, Border Collies won’t go too far from their owner and try to spend a lot of time with them. The love language for these animals is the quality time that you spend with them. Border Collies just love the companionship of their owners and show or perceive love on the basis of the time spent together. While animals like cats would show their love by bringing you something and then go away, a Border Collie would want to spend as much time as it can with you. In a similar way, if your ESA is very eager for you to get back, then they have ‘quality time’ as their love language.
Your ESA’s love language
You would have to wait for a considerable amount of time until you find the love language of your ESA. Once you are able to figure it out, the connection between you and your animal companion strengthens to a great extent. After learning about your ESA’s love language, there would be a lot less trouble in finding the things in which your ESA is interested and in which it isn’t. There might even be a possibility that your ESA has been exhibiting their love towards you in a different love language than you might expect. So, take the time you need for understanding your ESA’s love language and you will definitely enjoy the love and affection it has towards you.
If you want to acquire support and comfort from an animal in order to deal with your emotional and mental health issues, you can check whether you qualify for an ESA letter online (linked).
If you wish to work with a licensed mental health professional so that you can qualify for an ESA, then ESAcertificate.org can help you with your requirements.