Do dogs really love us?

We discuss dogs ability to form emotional bonds with humans and learn about research training dogs to sniff out the coronavirus.

Listen 49:29
Clive Wynne, author of

Clive Wynne, author of "Dog Is Love," and his dog, Xephos

Guests: Clive Wynne, Cynthia Otto

One good news story from the pandemic is that dog shelters and rescues have emptied. It seems a lot of people, stuck at home, have added four-legged family members while they quarantine. While training a dog can add some additional stress, canine research is telling us that they also add a lot of love, and that’s not anthropomorphizing. CLIVE WYNNE, director of the Canine Science Collaboratory at Arizona State University, says that dogs do actually form emotional relationships with people. We’ll talk to him about dog science and his recent book, Dog Is Love: Why and How Your Dog Loves You. But first, dogs can sniff out malaria, certain cancers and bacteria so what about the coronavirus? New research at Penn Vet’s Working Dog Center is trying to find out. We’ll talk to director CYNTHIA OTTO about the canine nose and the new study.

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