One study explores a dog鈥檚 ability to recognize and respond to human distress, in this case, crying. Psychologists exposed 18 pet dogs, of varying ages and breeds, to four distinct human encounters, each lasting 20 seconds.
Each dog owner and a stranger pretended to cry. Then each owner and a stranger hummed 鈥淢ary Had a Little Lamb.鈥� (The humming was designed to be a relatively novel behavior that would likely pique the dogs鈥� curiosity.)
The owner and stranger briefly talking to one another preceded all four of these actions. In order to keep things as neutral as possible, the stranger ignored the dog until it was time to cue up the waterworks.
The dogs鈥� responses were divided into two categories: 鈥淧erson-oriented鈥� behavior, which included 鈥渓ook at,鈥� 鈥渁pproach,鈥� and 鈥渟niff,鈥� and non-person oriented behavior, which included 鈥減assive鈥� attitude, 鈥渨alking,鈥� and 鈥渟olitary play.鈥�
The experiment found that whether it was the owner or stranger who cried, the majority of the dogs exhibited what the researchers call 鈥渆motional contagion,鈥� that is, behavior consistent with empathy, while the humming did not.
The study concluded, 鈥淚f the dogs鈥� approaches during the crying condition were motivated by self-oriented comfort-seeking, they would be more likely to approach their usual source of comfort, their owner, rather than the stranger. No such preference was found. The dogs approached whoever was crying regardless of their identity. Thus they were responding to the person鈥檚 emotion, not their own needs, which is suggestive of empathic-like comfort-offering behavior.鈥�