1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:09,559 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works. Hey, brain stuff, 2 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: it's Christian Seger. I've got to come clean. I like dogs. 3 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: In fact, I own to My dog, Winchester does this 4 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:19,480 Speaker 1: thing whenever I get home from work, where he's super 5 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:23,159 Speaker 1: excited and he's jumping around all happy, and then he 6 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:25,799 Speaker 1: starts yawning for some reason. I don't know. Maybe he's 7 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:28,120 Speaker 1: just tired, or maybe he's waking up. I don't know, 8 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: but he seems pretty delighted. And yawning is one of 9 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:35,560 Speaker 1: the primary ways dogs communicate in their whole complicated system 10 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 1: of subtle body language. It could mean several things. Did 11 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: you know that yawning is actually the first expression dogs 12 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: learn to use when they're tiny puppies, so it has 13 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: multiple meanings depending on the situation a dog is in. 14 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:54,240 Speaker 1: Dogs usually yawn when they want to send a pacifying 15 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: or calming signal out to other dogs or people, like hey, everybody, 16 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: let's take a breathe there and just chill out, okay. 17 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:06,400 Speaker 1: Yawns have no element of fear or aggression for dogs. 18 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:10,280 Speaker 1: It's like the exact opposite of a threat. So imagine this. 19 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: You're in a fistfight, and all you have to do 20 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:17,520 Speaker 1: is just be like, yeawn, nothing dangerous or intimidating here, 21 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: just I'm I'm like bored. But wait, why would my 22 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 1: dog do that to me? Okay, sometimes dogs yawn when 23 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: they're getting obedience training. If a dog is frustrated, he 24 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:31,839 Speaker 1: might be asking you to give him a little break. 25 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:34,680 Speaker 1: That is, if he sees you as the dominant one 26 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,039 Speaker 1: in your relationship. It could also mean that your dog 27 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 1: might be just cooling off his brain. There's a veterinary 28 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 1: behaviorist at you see Davis that thinks dog brains get 29 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: hot during periods of inactivity. Dog brains get warm because 30 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: their circulation slows down, So yawning supposedly cools the arterial 31 00:01:55,800 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 1: blood down, helping the dog's brain function. There's one other 32 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: thing that yawning and dogs might mean. Dogs also yawn 33 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:08,680 Speaker 1: when they're dealing with anxiety or uncertainty, and this includes 34 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: being excited. So maybe my dog is just trying to 35 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: control his enthusiasm. And oh also dogs yawn when they're 36 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: nervous too, like in a vets office, do you yawn 37 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: when you're nervous? Check this out. Dogs can also catch 38 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: yawning from the human beings around them. You know how 39 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: if you yawn, then other people in the room around 40 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: you often start yawning. Well, that often has to do 41 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 1: with a person's capacity for empathy, you know, feeling what 42 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:41,560 Speaker 1: somebody else feels. Well, there was a study about this 43 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 1: that was published in a journal called Biology Letters in 44 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, and they said twenty one out 45 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: of twenty nine dogs yawned at least once in response 46 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: to the yawn of an assistant in the room with them. 47 00:02:56,080 --> 00:03:00,120 Speaker 1: Human to dog yawn contagion. It sounds like the beginning 48 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 1: of a zombie movie where everyone just yawns at each other. 49 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: Check out the Brainstuff channel on YouTube, and for more 50 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:12,800 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff 51 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:27,519 Speaker 1: works dot com.