Dogs

Good dogs often gets treats as rewards. A new experiment shows that dogs who get fed, when given the chance to reciprocate, usually won’t pay their owners back with food.

New Study Shows Dogs Don't Return the Favor After Strangers Feed Them

A new lab experiment reveals pooches don’t pay humans back with a treat after the canines are fed

A young puppy responds to a human pointing to a treat during an experiment conducted by scientists at the University of Arizona.

Puppies Are Born Ready to Communicate With Humans

A new study finds very young dogs with little human contact can understand pointing gestures—and that the ability has a strong genetic basis

Stress-relief programs that integrate therapy pets can help students relax as they talk and think about their stressors without overwhelming themselves and may be more effective at providing relief than academic approaches to stress management.

For Stressed-Out College Students, Petting Therapy Dogs Has Long-Lasting Benefits

Compared to other experimental groups, undergrads who interacted with pups experienced improved executive functioning skills

Participate in the City Nature Challenge by spotting and recording animals and plants in your city starting Apr 30.

Learn About Dogs, Mangroves and Gardens at Free Online Natural History Programs This Month

Stream these free programs and more this April through the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

All modern dogs are descended from a wolf species that when extinct around 15,000 years ago. Grey wolves, pictured here fighting for food with now extinct dire wolves (red), are dogs’ closest living relative.

Meet the Scientist Studying How Dogs Evolved From Predator to Pet

Learn about how humans of the past helped build the bond between us and our favorite furry friends

A dog walks through a favela in Recife, Brazil. Many such poor urban areas in the country are hotbeds for visceral leishmaniasis.

Dogs Infected With a Deadly Human Parasite Smell Better to Insect Vectors

New research suggests female sand flies that pass the protozoa that causes visceral leishmaniasis to humans are attracted to affected canines

Some of the animals—including this dog—were buried in pieces of pottery.

Is This 2,000-Year-Old Egyptian Burial Site the World's Oldest Pet Cemetery?

Excavations show how humans treated cats, dogs and monkeys in first- and second-century Egypt

The dogs moved off a mat that had a toy attached to it, showing that dogs may understand their body size and where they are in the environment when solving a task.

Dogs May Be More Self-Aware Than Experts Thought

In a new study, canines recognized how their bodies took up space and moved to complete a task

A piece of bone labeled PP-00128 was thought to belong to a bear until DNA analysis revealed it came from a dog.

Ancient DNA Reveals the Oldest Domesticated Dog in the Americas

A 10,000-year-old dog bone was found in an Alaskan cave near a site with human remains

All dogs with the genetic signature A2b descended from the same Siberian canines roughly 23,000 years ago

How Dogs Migrated to America From Ice Age Siberia 15,000 Years Ago

Northern Siberians and ancestral native Americans may have traded pups at the time

A bent metal rod discovered in the grave was likely a dog toy.

2,000-Year-Old Grave of Child and Puppy Found in France

The dog, outfitted in a collar with a bell, was placed next to the 1-year-old's feet

An artist's illustration of two gray wolves (lower left) vying with a pack of dire wolves for a bison carcass near the tar pits in Rancho La Brea roughly 15,000 years ago.

Dire Wolves Weren't Actually Wolves, DNA Analysis Reveals

Ancient DNA extracted from fossils shows the beast split off from Canis lupus and coyotes nearly 6 million years ago

Seen here, conservation canine Betty White sniffs the ground while she trains to search for bumble bee nests.

Meet Ernie and Betty White: Two Conservation Dogs Sniffing Out Invasive Species in Wisconsin

These aren’t the only Labradors using their powerful sense of smell to aid in wildlife preservation efforts

The snack bars depicts a Nereid riding a sea-horse.

Ancient Pompeiians Stopped at This 'Snack Bar' to Feast on Snails, Fish and Wine

Archaeologists have uncovered food remnants at one of the city’s fast food joint, called thermopolia, where hungry ancients grabbed quick meals

Two sequential photos showing a kangaroo alternating its gaze between a box full of food it can't open and a human.

Kangaroos Communicate With Humans Like Dogs in Experiments

The study suggests people may have previously underestimated the communication abilities of other non-domesticated species

Denali's dogsled teams mush for weeks at a time to the far-flung corners of a park that stretches over 6 million acres.

How Denali National Park's Sled Dogs Prepare for Winter

For nearly a century, park rangers have relied on dogsledding to patrol the public land and collect data for scientists

About two dozen dogs were removed from the study because they were too excited and couldn't provide clear data.

Dogs Can't Tell the Difference Between Similar-Sounding Words

Sit, sat or set? It's all the same to Fido as long as you give him a treat

Writer and photographer Paul Koudounaris' new book, A Cat's Tale, finds his pet kitty, Baba, channeling famous and little-known felines from history.

A History of Felines, as Narrated and Illustrated by a Cat

Baba the cat is both storyteller and photographic model in what is perhaps the most unique cat history book ever published

An American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis) on a human finger.

Higher Temperatures Make Some Ticks Pick Humans Over Dogs

The study’s results suggest certain tick-borne diseases could become even more prevalent as climate change heats up the planet

Border collie Chaser had the largest tested word memory of any animal (other than a human).

The Most Famous Dogs of Science

These iconic canines have helped scientists make key discoveries, from archeological finds to cures for disease

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