{"id":37421,"date":"2026-08-10T23:25:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T18:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=37421"},"modified":"2026-08-10T23:25:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T18:25:33","slug":"your-dog-really-can-tell-when-youre-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=37421","title":{"rendered":"Your Dog Really Can Tell When You&#039;re Happy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<section>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.time.com\/v3\/assets\/bltea6093859af6183b\/bltc4569fdd97213656\/6a7a023b97a020796b2e21ab\/Dog_MRI_JPEG.jpg?branch=production\" \/><figcaption>A very cooperative border collie undergoes an fMRI. \u2014Photo by Laura Cuaya<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>If you\u2019ve ever suspected your dog can read your mind\u2014sussing out through some <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/3708391\/dogs-mad\/\" target=\"_self\">canine intuition<\/a> when you\u2019re happy, sad, scared, or cross\u2014you\u2019re half right. Many dogs can do exactly that, but it\u2019s not mind-reading that\u2019s involved: it\u2019s face-reading. That\u2019s the word from a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cell.com\/iscience\/fulltext\/S2589-0042(26)02278-9\">new study<\/a> in the journal <em>iScience<\/em>, in which researchers not only established dogs\u2019 ability to discern <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7006184\/embracing-dark-moods-essay\/\" target=\"_self\">human moods<\/a> by examining our facial expressions, but also pinpointed the spots in the brain where that processing takes place. They did this by scanning canine brains with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).<\/p>\n<h2>Figuring out how dogs read human emotions<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cThis ability to perceive emotions in humans is really hard to find in other species,\u201d says R\u00e1ul Hern\u00e1ndez P\u00e9rez, professor of psychology at the University of Vienna and first author of the study. \u201cChimpanzees have a harder time than dogs. <a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7274542\/colossal-dire-wolf\/\" target=\"_self\">Wolves<\/a> can also do it, but not at the same level as dogs can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Getting a dog to tolerate an MRI scanner is no small matter. The same things that so often freak people out about the MRI experience\u2014the confined space and the infernal noise\u2014can have a similar effect on a dog. That was an impediment to the kind of study the researchers planned to conduct. In order for a brain scan of the proper fidelity to be produced, the dogs must spend a minimum of six minutes in the machine, moving less than three millimeters in any direction. \u201cIf they move more than three millimeters, we can\u2019t use the data,\u201d says Laura Cuaya, professor of biological psychology at the University of Vienna and a co-author of the study.<\/p>\n<p>Looking for dogs who could perform that feat, she and Hern\u00e1ndez P\u00e9rez recruited 14 cooperative canines, consisting of 11 border collies\u2014a highly trainable breed\u2014two golden retrievers, and one Labrador, the last three of which were already working as service animals.<\/p>\n<p>The animals then went through a series of at least 20 training sessions\u2014the first involving just introducing them to the researchers and building a sense of trust. Next, the dogs were taught to lie still for just five seconds in the position they would have to maintain in the MRI scanner. \u201cWe reward them with treats, though some dogs prefer to play as a reward,\u201d says Cuaya.<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of several days, that brief five seconds was steadily extended to 10 full minutes. The dogs were then introduced to the headphones they would have to wear while in the machine to protect their hearing. \u201cThe headphones are not uncomfortable, but they\u2019re weird,\u201d says Cuaya. Finally, the dogs practiced holding their pose in a mock MRI scanner, and only then were they ready for the real, clanking, buzzing, banging machine.<\/p>\n<p>In the study, the dogs were positioned in the machine and shown pictures of a human face wearing either a happy or neutral expression. All the while the fMRI churned on, peering through the dogs\u2019 skulls into the brain below and looking for the areas that lit up as a result of the visual stimuli. When the dogs saw pictures of happy people, their temporal cortex and caudate nucleus became active. <a href=\"https:\/\/my.clevelandclinic.org\/health\/body\/16799-temporal-lobe\">In humans<\/a>, the temporal lobe plays a role in forming memories, mastering language, responding to visual cues such as familiar faces, and processing emotions. The caudate nucleus processes rewards and motivation and manages learning and memory. The neutral face did not elicit the same response in either region.<\/p>\n<p>Next, the dogs were once again shown images of happy and neutral faces, but along with those they were also shown angry, frightened, and sad ones. The researchers were trying to determine whether the dogs processed human faces in a binary way\u2014registering the positive, happy face in one part of the brain and the three negative ones together in one other part, or if each negative emotion had its own discrete brain region.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis would mean that the dog brain is not only categorizing emotions between positive and negative,&#8221; says Cuaya. \u201cWe were using this [stage of the experiment] as a demonstration that there is more detailed processing.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>What dogs\u2019 brains reveal about the dog-human bond<\/h2>\n<p>That was the result they got. Sadness and fear, for example, lit up the right rostral supra sylvian gyrus\u2014which, in humans, contributes to the processing of visual information. Anger and fear were processed in the right ectosylvian gyrus and the left splenal gyrus\u2014the former integrating visual, auditory, and other sensory information, and the latter managing visual perception, spatial orientation, and episodic memory.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe found that the dog brain is not only categorizing emotions as positive or negative, but instead can exhibit more detailed processing, responding in different ways to emotions,\u201d says Hern\u00e1ndez P\u00e9rez.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t the first study to find that dogs respond in unique ways to human faces. Other research has shown that when a human face is happy, for example, dogs <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0143047\">look more at the eyes than the mouth<\/a>. They examine emotional faces <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jveb.2010.09.032\">longer than they examine<\/a> neutral ones. And they have more difficulty reading the faces of people who are of a <a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s10071-011-0386-5\">different gender from their principal caregiver<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There are benefits to the study\u2014beyond the simple matter of adding to the body of knowledge on how dog brains operate. Hern\u00e1ndez P\u00e9rez and Cuaya believe their work can also help improve the already deep ties dogs and humans share.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHumans are not so good at perceiving the emotions of our dogs,\u201d says Cuaya. \u201cWe are confused by them. Maybe this work can be an invitation to try to be more aware of the emotions of our dogs and how they are expressing [them].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That understanding can also pay dividends when we are training our dogs. \u201c\u200b\u200bWhen you are teaching something to your dog, you can have treats on hand, and you can give the treats when they are appropriate. But you can also show your emotion. You can say to the dog, \u2018Very good!\u2019 The dogs in our MRI machine were already reacting to the faces of strangers. Think about how much more activation there is with a familiar face expressing, \u2018I love you so much. I am happy with you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The dog-human love story\u2014which has been going on for some 14,000 years now\u2014has been a long and tender one. The more we understand the canine contribution to that bond, the more we can improve our own.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A very cooperative border collie undergoes an fMRI. \u2014Photo by Laura Cuaya If you\u2019ve ever suspected your dog can read your mind\u2014sussing out through some canine intuition when you\u2019re happy, sad, scared, or cross\u2014you\u2019re half right. Many dogs can do exactly that, but it\u2019s not mind-reading that\u2019s involved: it\u2019s face-reading. That\u2019s the word from a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static.time.com\/v3\/assets\/bltea6093859af6183b\/bltc4569fdd97213656\/6a7a023b97a020796b2e21ab\/Dog_MRI_JPEG.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}