Cute Dog Friends Playing Together

It will come as no surprise to animal lovers that watching dog videos reduces stress and improves wellbeing – but it might that there’s research to back it up.

Scientists have taken notice of what most of us already knew — and that’s a good thing for people who don’t have their own dogs.

In November 2021, researchers from the Department of Psychology at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, published a study titled “The Effect of Dog Videos on Subjective and Physiological Responses to Stress.”

In the study’s abstract, the researchers noted that while research has indicated that animal-assisted therapy programs can reduce stress responses, animals aren’t always allowed in public settings (Exhibit A: coronavirus pandemic restrictions).

The study set out to determine if watching a video of an active dog can help improve the response to stress more than a video of a tranquil dog, whether exposure to dog videos can improve “subjective and physiological stress responses” more than watching nature videos, and whether watching either kind of video is more beneficial than watching a control video – i.e., a blank screen.

After finishing a stressful task, 103 participants (78 women and 25 men) each watched a randomly assigned video, including a dog playing with a toy, a dog resting, a waterfall flowing in a forest, a slow-moving stream, or a black screen.

Ultimately, watching dog videos – either active or tranquil – showed the most positive effects: decreasing anxiety and increasing happiness.