London - If your dog looks pleased to see you – it is probably because it loves the particular way you smell.
The odour of a familiar human apparently lingers like perfume in the animal’s brain – where it triggers an instinctive emotional response, research reveals.
Our scent acts on a part of the canine brain associated with reward and the strongest reactions are produced by humans that pets know best, say scientists in America.
Gregory Berns, of Emory University in Atlanta, said: “While we might expect that dogs should be highly tuned to the smell of other dogs, it seems that the ‘reward response’ is reserved for their humans.”
The university’s experiment, which was published in the journal Behavioural Processes, showed that dogs reacted strongest to the scent of a familiar human even when they were not there.
Pets trained as help or therapy dogs showed greater brain activity than the other dogs in the test.
Researchers say the findings could improve the way animals who assist wounded veterans or disabled people are selected. - Daily Mail