Story at-a-glance
A recent study suggests that not only are dogs empathetic, but some even rush to help their owners if they show signs of distress The study co-authors observed that dogs who were able to suppress their own feelings of distress were more likely to take quick action to help their humans The therapy dogs included in the study didn’t perform better than any of the other dogs, probably because they are trained more for obedience than human-animal bonding