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A1 · BeginnerUnited Kingdom·Everyday Life & Culture

Dogs Can Smell Human Stress

Key Vocabulary

Word / PhraseMeaningExample
stressa worried or tense feelingA difficult test can cause stress.
smellto notice something with your noseDogs can smell many things very well.
samplea small amount used for a testThe scientists collected a sweat sample.
calmnot worried or excitedThe person was calm before the test.
researchcareful study to learn new informationMore research can help us understand dogs.

Article

Dogs have a very strong nose. A study in the UK tested dogs and human stress. [1]

People gave breath and sweat samples. They gave one sample when calm. They gave another after a difficult math task.

Four trained dogs smelled the samples. The dogs often found the stress sample. Their total accuracy was about 94 percent. [1]

The dogs did not see the people. They did not hear them. They only smelled the samples. This suggests stress changes human smell. [2]

Another UK study found something more. The smell of a stressed person may also change how dogs act and make choices. [3]

These were small studies. Scientists need more research. But the results show how important smell is in the relationship between people and dogs.

Discussion Questions

  1. What things make people feel stressed in daily life?
  2. How do dogs help people in your country?
  3. What special abilities do you think dogs have?
  4. How do animals know when a person feels different?
  5. What would you like scientists to study about dogs?

References

  1. Wilson et al., "Dogs can discriminate between human baseline and psychological stress condition odours," PLOS ONE.
  2. Queen's University Belfast, "Stress has an odour and dogs can smell it - new research."
  3. University of Bristol, "Smell of human stress affects dogs' emotions leading them to make more pessimistic choices."
  4. Parr-Cortes et al., "The odour of an unfamiliar stressed or relaxed person affects dogs' responses to a cognitive bias test," Scientific Reports.