Dogs

Spelling F-O-O-D or O-U-T might only get you so far around your dog if he or she is considered a Gifted Word Learner. Researchers have just figured out that even when you're not talking to them directly, they're still acquiring new terms.

Most pet dogs carry a little wolf inside them; tiny snippets of wolf DNA that slipped into dog genomes after domestication. Now a new study has found almost two-thirds of dog breeds have a small amount of wolf genes, including some breeds you wouldn't expect.

Inside the Exclusion Zone surrounding the Chornobyl nuclear plant, thousands of animals now roam freely. Among them are the stray dogs – around 900 descendants of the pets left behind, living in the shadow of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

A new study of exceptionally long-lived Rottweilers revealed that keeping their testes for longer may help them age more gracefully, offering fresh clues for how hormones shape frailty and resilience in both dogs and humans.

Everybody knows that dogs can learn to associate spoken words with objects that look a certain way. A new study, however, shows that some gifted dogs can also match given spoken words to dissimilar-looking objects that perform certain functions.

Ever wondered if your dog really watches TV? A new study finds that many do, and how they respond depends not just on what’s on screen, but on their personality, from excitement levels to fearfulness.

Watching a video of a therapy dog for just five minutes can meaningfully lower stress levels, a new study shows, offering a simple, stigma-free option for those reluctant to seek traditional mental health support.

The increase in dog ownership has seen an associated increase in dog-walking-related injuries, which can impose a substantial financial burden on the healthcare system, according to a new study. Helpfully, there are easy ways to avoid injury.

Dogs are proving to be more than just our best friends, with a new study finding that we share proteins that could accelerate our understanding and treatment of a complication of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, which affects both species.

You've probably heard that Salmonella is most commonly transmitted through food or water contaminated by the bacteria of the same name. A new study suggests that if you've got a pet dog, chances are you're susceptible to catching it from them, too.

Ever been caught in the crossfire of a wet dog firing droplets of water away from their fur with a mad shake? Well, they can't help it. Scientists have identified the innate sense-motor function mechanism that drives dogs to twist and spout.

Two dogs in a small study were able to correctly identify what breath smelled like when it was linked to a memory of trauma. The finding might allow dogs to be even better friends when it comes to helping PTSD sufferers cope with their conditions.