SIMILARITIES BETWEEN YOUNG CHILDREN AND DOGS

I have been seeing similarities between young children and dogs.  This started after I had a number of patients talk about the benefits of owning dogs and how their dogs help them to feel calm and peaceful.  Some of my patients have used their dogs as "comfort" animals [like a "service" dog] and they tell me that their dogs are able to detect if they [the owners] are experiencing stress. One patient believes that her dog can detect when she starts to dissociate as a way of coping with stress. There are also reports of dogs helping people to overcome their depressive and anxiety symptoms by being with them and not judging them and requiring help to be fed and walked, etc.  

A lot of these attributes also apply to children.  Children are loving and caring as well as being non-judgmental.  I have patients who report that their children are alert to their [the patient's] stress level and can help them to stop their stress reaction by calling attention to the onset of stress and their parent's withdrawal.  I have witnessed young children be very tuned in to their parent's stress and will distract their parent so that their parent will stop their stress response and attend to their child, who keeps them in the present moment.  

Maybe children know mindfulness and meditative practices intuitively?  What do you think? Dogs too?