Study demonstrates dogs can detect the smell of human stress

A new study provides “firm” evidence that dogs can detect the smell of stress. Depositphotos

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2022 Sep 28
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Having been domesticated many thousands of years ago, dogs have evolved to become highly attuned to human behavior, but a study has taken this concept into new terrain. The authors conducted experiments to explore whether canines can detect increasing levels of stress in people through their incredible sense of smell, with the results indicating that indeed they can, even if it’s someone they are unfamiliar with.

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Led by scientists at Queen’s University Belfast, the study is described as the first of its kind and saw four pet dogs enlisted and trained to distinguish between different odors. Thirty six human participants were then subjected to arithmetic tasks designed to induce a stressful state, and were made to wipe gauze on the back of their necks and breathe onto it, both before and after the test.

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This produced “stressed” samples for the dogs to try and distinguish from “relaxed” ones, along with perfectly clean ones for controls. In a preliminary experiment, the dogs were first rewarded for distinguishing the stressed samples from the clean ones. The relaxed samples were then introduced, with the dogs made to discriminate between them over the course of 720 trials.

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Impressively, the dogs correctly chose the stress sample 94% of the time. The scientists consider this “firm evidence” that stressful states can lead to particular odors, and that dogs can distinguish those odors from the ones we emit when we’re relaxed.

“The findings show that we, as humans, produce different smells through our sweat and breath when we are stressed and dogs can tell this apart from our smell when relaxed – even if it is someone they do not know,” said study author Clara Wilson.

The scientists do note that the study didn’t test whether dogs perceive stress as positive or negative, and that in real-life scenarios they likely gauge this through other cues, such as our tone of voice or breathing. They do, however, imagine the knowledge proving valuable in the training of service dogs that currently rely largely on visual cues.

“This is the first study of its kind and it provides evidence that dogs can smell stress from breath and sweat alone, which could be useful when training service dogs and therapy dogs,” said Wilson. “It also helps to shed more light on the human-dog relationship and adds to our understanding of how dogs may interpret and interact with human psychological states.”

The research was published in the journal PLOS One.

Source: Queen’s University Belfast, The Conversation
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Science Queens University Belfast Dogs Stress Odor Smell
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Nick Lavars

Nick has been writing and editing at New Atlas for over six years, where he has covered everything from distant space probes to self-driving cars to oddball animal science. He previously spent time at The Conversation, Mashable and The Santiago Times, earning a Masters degree in communications from Melbourne’s RMIT University along the way.
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2 comments

FerrisPoobah – 2022 Sep 29 – 07:08 AM

Why would anyone pay for such a study? We do not need dogs to detect stress in human beings. [Service dogs may need this ability.]

TpPa – 2022 Sep 29 – 04:18 AM

Well you do have a point there, unless your dog detects your stress and brings you a beer.
On the serious side it is amazing what dogs can smell, our Border Collie can track my wives car tires on the blacktop amongst all the other tires that have been on the road, and a endless amount of other things.
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