A new study found that even a stranger’s stress odour can affect a dog’s emotional state. In recent years, a growing body of research has affirmed that dogs can smell when humans are stressed. A new study shows how it affects them.
As many dog owners can attest, our stress is contagious. “ Dogs can pick up on our stress , and we wondered what effect that had on the dogs,” said Zoe Parr-Cortes, lead author of the study, which was released late last month. Parr-Cortes - a veterinarian and PhD student at Bristol Veterinary School in Langford, England - ran a series of trials with 18 dogs.
She started by teaching the pups that a bowl placed in one location contained food, and when it was placed in another spot, it did not..