Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren bog Obam here with another classic episode
Speaker 1: from our archives. This one concerns a bit of animal psychology.
Speaker 1: If you've ever owned a dog and you've ever been
Speaker 1: upset around it, the chances are good that it reacted
Speaker 1: in some way. My Golden Show mix Chloe would always
Speaker 1: come lick my kneecaps when I got too sad, and
Speaker 1: science has proven that dogs know what they're doing and
Speaker 1: they want to help. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bog obam here.
Speaker 1: Researchers from Johns Hopkins University have confirmed what most dog
Speaker 1: owners already know. The dogs have strong emotional bonds with
Speaker 1: their owners and want to help when we're upset. In
Speaker 1: a paper titled in homage to Lassie Timmy's in the Well,
Speaker 1: Empathy and pro Social Helping in Dogs, published in a
Speaker 1: issue of the journal Learning and Behavior, researchers described how
Speaker 1: dogs pushed through a door when they heard their owners crying.
Speaker 1: Lead author Emily Sandford, a graduate student in psychological and
Speaker 1: brain sciences, set in the paper, we found dogs not
Speaker 1: only sense what their owners are feeling. If a dog
Speaker 1: knows a way to help them, they'll go through barriers
Speaker 1: to provide that help to them. A study found dogs
Speaker 1: may be hardwired to comfort us when we're sad, regardless
Speaker 1: of whether the dog knows us or not. When a
Speaker 1: stranger and the dog's owner cried, the dogs approached whoever
Speaker 1: was bawling in a submissive way. The dogs, the researchers concluded,
Speaker 1: responded empathetically to the person's emotions and not their own needs.
Speaker 1: But Sandford's research is the first to show that our
Speaker 1: beloved four legged friends are specifically moved to action when
Speaker 1: they see their owners in emotional distress. The experiment involved
Speaker 1: thirty four pet dogs of varying breeds. Some were big,
Speaker 1: some small. Here's how it all played out. Researchers told
Speaker 1: the dogs owners wanted a time to stand behind a
Speaker 1: clear door held shut by magnets. The owners dogs could
Speaker 1: see and hear what was going on. Researchers then had
Speaker 1: humans hum Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star, or pretend to cry.
Speaker 1: While not all the dogs opened the door, those that
Speaker 1: did opened it three times faster when they heard their
Speaker 1: owners crying Instead of humming. Researchers also measured the dog's
Speaker 1: stress level. Those that were able to bolt through the
Speaker 1: door to rescue. Their owners showed less stress even though
Speaker 1: they were upset by the crying. Even though they were upset,
Speaker 1: they weren't too frazzled to take action. The researchers concluded.
Speaker 1: The dogs that didn't push the door open were more
Speaker 1: stressed out. It seems the researchers surmised those dogs were
Speaker 1: so troubled by their owners crying that they couldn't do
Speaker 1: anything to help. Sandford said, dogs have been by the
Speaker 1: side of humans for tens of thousands of years, and
Speaker 1: they've learned to read our social cues. Dog owners can
Speaker 1: tell that their dogs sense their feelings. Our findings reinforced
Speaker 1: that idea and show that, like Lassie, dogs who know
Speaker 1: their people are in trouble might spring into action. These
Speaker 1: episode is based on the article Your Dog Really Wants
Speaker 1: to Help when You're Upset on how stuff Works dot Com,
Speaker 1: written by John Paritano. Brain Stuff is production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com,
Speaker 1: and it's produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts my
Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.