The white paper “Timmy’s in the well: Empathy and prosocial helping in dogs,” was recently published in the journal Learning & Behavior. Paper authors studied the time that dogs responding to their owners’ crying. The study involved 34 pet dogs of various breeds and sizes and their owners. The results show that dogs will frequently push through barriers with urgency to help their owners.
Prior studies have found dogs to be highly responsive to human crying. But Sanford’s team is the first to show that dogs who detect emotional distress will hurry do something about it.
Source: The Bark, July 2018. Link.
During the task, the researchers measured the dogs’ stress levels. Sanford said dogs who were able to push through the door to “rescue” their owners showed less stress, meaning they were upset by the crying, but not too upset to take action. As for the dogs who didn’t push open the door, it wasn’t because they didn’t care — it seemed they cared too much. Those dogs showed the most stress and were too troubled by the crying to do anything, Sanford said.
INSIGHTS: These study results are relevant to the Fear Free Happy Homes movement. Consider sharing them with colleagues and customers.