Dogs & Us - The Secrets of an Unbreakable Friendship

Dogs. They're playful, headstrong, fun-loving, and above all, loyal. Our emotional connection with them, stemming back thousands of years, remains unbroken to this day. Their evolution, millennia in the making, has made them perfectly suited to us. I'm working with somebody who's really much, much cleverer than me. Their phenomenal senses make them an indispensable member of any team. And their great sense of smell means they can detect diseases, even in their earliest stages. They saved my life. For some, a dog offers a last glimmer of hope. It's really like having my best friend in the world right here in the cell with me. You know what I mean? Like, sometimes I don't want to talk to anybody else, but I always want to hang out with my What makes them so unique in the animal world is their ability to communicate and understand us. Your dog is smarter than you think. But why did dogs become our ideal companion and co-worker? Why are dogs so loyal that they would follow us to the ends of the earth? What exactly is the secret behind this unique friendship? Inset, a small town in northern Norway, 240 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. The Greenland dogs here are the living inheritors of the ancient wolf's genome. They belong to one of the oldest dog breeds in the world. Here, humans and dogs still lead a life left untouched by modernity. I emigrated from Hamburg 30 years ago and set up a husky farm here. When I first started offering guided tours, my main goal was just being outside. I wanted to be out in nature with the dogs. It's kind of like living the life of a farmer who keeps to himself and doesn't get around too much. And even though I haven't seen very much of the world, somehow I can really say that I have found one of the most beautiful spots on earth. It all started when Bjørn Klauer was on a hiking tour across Norway. He longed for a solitary life, away from society. A Greenland dog joined him on this journey, not only pulling his bags, but also keeping him company. Without the dog, Bjørn would have grown very lonely. Greenland dogs are just perfect for these extreme expeditions in the far north. Their thick fur protects them from temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius. They are sled dogs through and through. Bjørn's routine with the dogs is dictated by the weather. In winter, he spends more than 100 days in the great outdoors. Each day, these bundles of energy run up to 60 kilometers. It is on these trips that Bjørn and the dogs have forged their special bond. The lead dog runs out in front of the team. He is the one that I communicate with, who I have direct contact with. He always wants to do everything just right. Just like all dogs, he wants to do everything right for his owner. But you have to build trust with the lead dog. That means the dog must first know that my commands are actually always good. I won't ever put them in danger. On the other hand, if the dog backs away from something, I must also know, OK, there's got to be something in the way. Your dog is basically your life insurance policy out here, and it trusts you no matter what. The highlands of northern Norway. Seemingly endless, lonely tundra covered in dense snow for more than half a year. What has now become a passion for Bjørn was once essential to the survival of our Nordic ancestors. Sled dogs and humans have shared a close relationship for more than 2,000 years. With nomads in Siberia, with Inuits, the natives of North America, and with the inhabitants of Greenland, the home of Bjørn's Greenland dogs. In a landscape dominated by ice and snow, our ancestors were dependent on their dogs. And not only for hunting. With their sleds, they were able to reach other settlements to buy and sell goods. The dogs played a key role in expanding trade routes. Even at this point in time, dogs proved themselves to be highly sociable animals. These endearing traits have endured until today. Sled dogs are the only working animals in the world that you cannot pressure to do what you want them to. They just have their own motivation, their joy of pulling, and their satisfaction of working in a team. Everything has to be fun, and I think that's really great. When I am on a tour, then I also have to work in the team. I don't just stand on the sled and say, go, when it goes uphill. I have to help. I have to walk. And if the snow is really deep, I may have to go grab my snowshoes. And it is this collaboration, in my opinion, which is the greatest experience. This really deepens our connection with nature even more. For thousands of years, sled dogs have been at our side, ready to help. And in the process, they've learned to understand us. When I'm there, standing on the sled, and watching the dogs having fun just running, and when I take in the mountains and enjoy the scenery, that's an unbelievable sense of freedom. Our relationship with dogs are really quite remarkable. Dogs are among the few animals that can respond to where we look, where we point, and how we speak. According to recent studies, dogs are not only able to interpret our tone of voice, but actually understand exactly what we are saying to them. Researchers have found that dogs only feel appreciated when both our words and tone express praise. Also, how a dog tilts its head gives us another clue about how they understand language. It suggests that dogs process speech in much the same way as we humans do. Meaningful words are processed in the left half of the brain, and the tone of voice in the right. The unique, sophisticated ways in which we are able to communicate with dogs has changed lives. Dogs have taken on tasks that humans otherwise could not do on their own. These sheepdogs, they're very compulsive in their nature. Working sheep is almost like a drug to them. They love that drug. So they'll do anything to have the pleasure of hunting and working sheep. Here, on the English-Scottish border, is the home of the world's most famous herding dog, the Border Collie. Derek Scrimgore has lived in the mountains of Cumbria for the last 50 years. Besides running a sheep farm, he specializes in breeding Border Collies. The minute I started to work with a Border Collie, I realized this is a completely different type of dog. And it was clever, and it wanted to please me. And the whole concept of the dog working sheep, it's like magic. It felt like magic, and it was just so intriguing. Compared to humans, dogs have a much more extensive field of vision. This is what makes them true masters of herding. While we perceive our environment like this, dogs see the world pretty much like this, with a field of vision of about 250 degrees. This means they are very sensitive to the movements all around them. This heightened awareness helps them watch over the sheep at all times, and to instantly recognize dangers. But what is most important is communication. Lynne listens carefully to Derek's commands. These brief commands are enough to let Lynne know which sheep she needs to take, and where. Her work is a balancing act between obedience and acting on her own initiative. These dogs will run out half a mile easily, and take directions left and right to fetch sheep to where we want them. I don't know anybody who can take direction like a dog. If anybody gave me as many directions as I give my dog, I think I could stand it for about maybe 20 minutes before I left. These dogs will work all day, and take advice, and try to be helpful, and keep an open mind. So they're very useful. The ancestors of the Border Collies lived in England and Scotland in the 16th century. Here, shepherds discovered their skills and developed them even further. Especially on large, barren pastures, these dogs became indispensable. Only with their help could shepherds lead their sheep to fresh pastures and water. Even today, working in this vast landscape would be impossible without the dogs. The sheep are more than 800 meters away, but the shepherds can communicate with their dogs across this distance. Derek fully trusts his dogs, and they, in turn, trust him. Derek teaches his dogs to channel their natural hunting behavior into their herding. To do this, the dogs use their special skills derived from hunting. Targeting prey, stalking it, and circling and getting their prey right where they want it. For shepherds like Derek, the Border Collies are just as valuable as they were centuries ago. Every day, every minute of every day, I just enjoy working with the dogs. And especially when you get one that's a little bit better. Something that's a little bit special. Sometimes you get a dog that's just a little bit of a genius. In dog terms, he's much more of a genius than I could ever be. And I'm working with somebody who's really much, much cleverer than me. So this dog that I've got just now, Lynn, she's an example of that. She was born to work. The minute she started working, it was almost as if she'd been here before. Even to this day, many shepherds and herders around the world are only able to overcome their challenges with the help of these trusty dogs. Dogs, with their desire to work and live with humans, are quite unique in the animal world. Researchers even hypothesize that dogs have played an important role in our own development. Without our close relationship with dogs, humans would probably not be where they are today. One ability that has made dogs particularly important to us is their keen sense of smell. Unlike humans, dogs spend their lives immersed in a world of scents. Gratwein in Styria, Austria. Here, we meet some dogs that science is only now starting to catch up with. Today, Franz Högl is visiting Wolfgang Gleichweit and his dogs, Rocky and Lucy. Although he was having regular check-ups by his urologists, it was the dogs that were able to detect his prostate cancer and its initial stages. Could these dogs really have done that? I have no doubts at all. Because we know how well dogs can sniff out and pick up on things. They can find drugs, weapons and explosives. So why shouldn't they find cancer? In the end, those dogs saved my life. Wolfgang trains these cancer detection dogs at this farmhouse. Just over 10 years ago, this former police dog handler founded the world's first cancer detection canine team. It is all run entirely on donations. Despite widespread skepticism, those who believe in these dogs' unique talents are regularly sending out tubes filled with breath, urine and saliva. The new samples are placed in a beam. To make sure that the dog's nose is working properly, they include negative and positive control samples in the setup. But what exactly can these dogs smell? Cancer detection dogs are trained to detect odors released by certain tumor cells. Cancer cells are known to release alkaline odors. These scent molecules have been detected in breath samples from lung cancer patients and in the urine of prostate cancer patients. And it is exactly this odor that the dogs should be able to recognize. Wolfgang needs to make sure that Rocky sniffs each sample thoroughly, so that no odor escapes his nose. Each cancer detection dog has developed their own individual signal when they find something. You always have to keep in mind that a human life is at stake. You cannot take this work lightly. You have to be careful to keep the error rates as low as possible. After each round, the beam is disinfected to get rid of odors left by the other dogs. Then the setup is repeated, placing the probes at different positions. This is repeated five times with five different dogs to do a thorough cross-check. We test and evaluate samples at least 15 times before we consider it positive or negative. Working under the close supervision of pulmonologists, Wolfgang Gleichweit conducted tests confirming the overwhelming accuracy of his trained sniffer dogs. From over 2200 documented cancer cases, 93% of their results have turned out to be correct. The dogs are actually my partners, my life's work, and the feedback we just received goes to show us how reliable they really are. That is so rewarding. We know it's worked and we've saved another human life. We have caught a disease in its initial stage that otherwise might have taken years to catch. Wolfgang's team is now planning to perform the cancer tests directly on humans. Dogs such as Bagheera the Labrador are currently being trained for this vision. This approach could prove particularly helpful in skin cancer detection. The Labrador first sniffs a cancer sample so it can recall the scent during the actual test. In this training session, the cancer smell on the volunteer subject comes from a tube sample attached to their arm. After the test phases, Bagheera is supposed to detect the cancer and indicate its location on the skin. With approximately 220 million olfactory cells, about 40 times as many as we humans have, dogs can pick up and distinguish between the faintest scents. They can even recognize a single scent molecule among a trillion others. Even now, we are unable to truly understand just how complex this world of scents is, which is why scientists still don't know how widely dogs can be used to sniff out things. In South Carolina, on the east coast of the United States, Lisa Briggs lives and works with her dog, Layla. She has trained her golden retriever to detect human remains for police investigations. Layla is a crossover dog, so she lives in my home with me. She goes everywhere with me. She's kind of a pet, and then I can put her vest on, and she's a working dog. She's just turned three, but already closed eight cases by finding human remains. So she's good at what she does. Trained cadaver dogs are thought to have the keenest sense of smell among all other dogs. The decomposition process creates a chemical cocktail of hundreds of different odors. Death's scent can truly take many forms, and Layla is one of the few who can identify it. My job is to read my dog. I've taught her what to do, but when we're out on a search, I have to pay attention to her body language. People, when they watch the dogs, they can see it through the tail, through the nose, through the air scenting. They may start barking early when they get into odor. Her job is to actually not just get me close to source, but actually get me right on the source. In a nearby forest, Layla is learning to sniff out different types of decomposition. They can be outdoors, underground, or even in water. Lisa has hidden a real decaying human hand, which is allowed in the U.S. for just this purpose. Thanks to her trained nose, Layla can detect a corpse in deep water and even distinguish between a dead rat and human remains. For Layla, this is all just a game. When she plays, she gets rewards. And this is no different in a real case, when the police or family members are hoping to find important clues. My first search, and the first time I found human remains, I was depressed afterwards. I was very, very sad. Because I felt sad for the victim, I felt sad for what we found. And then I realized I was making my dog sad, you know? And so I have to do a good job making sure that she stays happy at her job. So, it's taken quite a bit of work to still remain a human being and have empathy for the family, but not to do so much of it that my dogs are picking up on the fact that I'm sad. Lisa and Layla work like a well-oiled machine, superior to many other forensic methods. But their work also shows how empathetic dogs can be. The most important people in dogs' lives are their owners. Dogs can identify with us and see things from our perspective, which is why we can rely on them and give them a lot of responsibility. In some cases, this close relationship can even change lives. Tina, an Australian Shepherd dog, is trained to assist her owner Carlotta Kramer in her daily life. When Carlotta was 13 years old, she was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism. For me, I just cannot deal with crowds at all. And it's particularly hard for me to spend a lot of time with other people, especially when they're strangers, or to try out new things on my own. And it's very, very hard for me to talk to people if I don't know what's coming next. It was nearly impossible for the now 22-year-old to cope with everyday situations. Her entire life was blighted by limitations, depression and even self-harming behavior. It was only when Tina came into her life that she found a way to escape her loneliness and started meeting other people. She helps me in my everyday life just by being there. When we go downtown together, people automatically step back, especially when she is wearing her service dog vest. People will say, oh, there's someone who needs help. Tina radiates charm and a special sense of responsibility. Dogs are perfect in this caretaking role because of their ability to develop empathy. They can feel when we are happy or sad. And this is something that Carlotta feels every day. You don't ever have to be afraid. And I think that's just the most important thing. I can count on her every second. She's always there for me, and she always makes me feel like I'm loved and that there's someone here looking out for me. Thanks to Tina, Carlotta can now cope with daily life on her own. She can study, and she has found the love of her life. But most importantly, Tina has managed something incredible, to put a smile back on Carlotta's face. Dogs are observant and have the unique ability of putting themselves in our shoes. While we mainly communicate with them using our voice, they can actually read our faces like an open book. The thing is, our faces cannot lie. Intuitively, the right side of a person's face is more expressive than the left side. Therefore, we instinctively focus on this right half when we want to understand the mood or feelings of our counterpart. It's our unconscious way to recognize each other's feelings. Scientists have now discovered that dogs look at us in exactly the same way we look at each other. They focus on our right side and recognize our feelings. This is why they have such insight into our thoughts and feelings. And they only do this with us, not with other dogs. But they can use this perceptiveness in other ways, too. They show how well they can read us through their favorite pastime, eating. Johanna has taught Mario to wait before he can start eating his food. So he's given a sign that he's not allowed to approach his bowl of food. Mario watches Johanna quite closely. Yet, at the same time, he never loses sight of the food he knows is waiting for him. Only when Mario feels that he's no longer being watched does he venture closer to his bowl. Always keeping a watchful eye on Johanna, making sure she doesn't notice. Although Mario desperately wants his food, he's so smart that he adapts his behavior. In fact, he's weighing up the consequences he would face if he gets caught. He is constantly reassessing what Johanna can see and what she can't. This is a sign of great intelligence. And it's clearly why dogs are such good communicators and learners. Chaser is a border collie who has made history. Her owner is John Pilley, an American professor of psychology. Together, they have revolutionized science and shown that dogs are even more intelligent than was ever thought possible. Chaser came into John Pilley's life just after he retired. Sally, my wife, grew tired of me moping around from retirement. She knew that I needed some new challenge. So Sally told me one day, just before Christmas, you're going to have a new dog. And that made me happy. Chaser has become John's four-legged research subject. With some very surprising results. He noticed that Chaser learned and memorized things quite quickly when they played together. Chaser is eager to learn. All she has to do is hear John's verbal commands, and her eyes lock onto her favorite ball, called Blue. The key thing that inspired me from the very beginning was when she learned the name of objects, or she showed that she knew the names of objects, after one trial. We taught her three commands. We taught her to nose an object. We taught her to paw an object. And we taught her to take an object into her mouth. What we found was, Chaser could obey those commands. Demonstrating that each one of those words has an independent meaning. Nose frisbee, nose frisbee, good girl. Chase, take peanuts, good girl, good girl. Okay, Chase, paw powder puffs, good. Chase, take powder puffs, good. Take powder puffs, good girl, good girl. Where we've recently gone further with this research is that we've gone beyond two words. We've gone to the point of having three elements of grammar. Chase, to Blue, take powder puffs. Do it girl, do it, do it, do it. Yes, good girl, that's it, that's it, that's it. Okay, out, out, to Pop Pop, to Pop Pop. Chaser was asked to take certain objects to another object. Now, she did that correctly, indicating her understanding of syntax. Now, one time I would say to powder puff, take peanuts, and then to peanuts, take powder puff. And so we used, in our major study, the three elements of grammar using objects so that we could demonstrate not just syntax, the learning the rules of grammar, but also the semantics, where the meaning was changed when the words or objects were inverted in the sentence. John Pilley has published his findings about Chaser in numerous scientific publications. Other dog researchers have reviewed his studies and found Chaser is hardly an isolated case. Rather, canine intelligence has been underestimated until now. Chaser's love of games, her instincts, and her bond with her owner show the world what dogs are capable of doing. Chaser has become a star and is known as the smartest dog in the world. Good girl. Yeah, you're the smartest dog. Yeah, you're so sweet. Learning the names of over a thousand objects, learning common nouns, these kind of findings definitely show what dog lovers have always known, that their dog is smarter, really, than they think. Intelligent, sensitive, loyal, and outgoing. No wonder dogs are such popular pets the world over. And they have yet another quality that hardly anyone can resist, their gentle, pleading eyes. This feature developed especially for their relationship with humans and has played a central role in their evolutionary history. And these eyes are more powerful than we think. When we see our dogs as a baby with fur, there's actually science behind it. When they stare into our eyes, the same hormones that bind a mother to her newborn get activated. Oxytocin and dopamine. The cuddle hormone and the happiness hormone. We fall for this baby-like cuteness every time. But even dogs themselves are not immune to this rush of love. They also have a hormonal response to us. Gwinnett County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, has launched a unique program. Prisoners take in dogs from a nearby animal shelter and look after them day and night and train them until they've found a new home. Michael Pomeroy has been looking after his pit bull mix, Roxy, for three years now. You know, jail kind of takes you away from your family. You get removed from the people you love. I've been here almost three years, and after a while, everybody kind of starts to... You get less and less postcards, and people answer the phone less. So it's really like having my best friend in the world right here in the cell with me. Sometimes I don't want to talk to anybody else, but I always want to hang out with my dog. I'll come back from court. I may have bad news from the judge. And she's there, and it's unconditional. If I don't want to play and all that, she'll just sit down next to me and lay down and be there for me. I made some bad decisions. A hotel room got raided. They found a large amount of heroin. And I've been sitting here for a while just kind of waiting on a better plea offer, really. These dogs, like Roxy, come from a shelter just around the corner from the jail. Sheriff Brad Dougherty is the driving force behind this program, which he has called Operation Second Chance. He focuses on dogs that are in a critical situation and would be put down unless they are quickly adopted. Like this little old one, Charlotte. Charlotte is an 11-year-old poodle. We know that she's got an abscessed tooth, and other than that, medically, we're not sure. It breaks my heart, the things that happen to these dogs. But when I see them being loved and cared for and nurtured by these inmates, and I watch these dogs transform from victims to members of families, it makes it all worthwhile. Then we have the inmates. A lot of these guys have never had love or respect given to them. And these dogs love these men, and they need these guys. The inmates are doing great. The program is working. We very rarely have any kind of behavioral issues in these units. The dogs just seem to bring a peace in there. It's quieter than most. You know, you would think with a bunch of dogs that it would be very noisy, but it's not. It's very quiet, very clean, very quiet, and everybody behaves themselves. It's a peaceful place. This close bond between the dogs and the prisoners can do a lot. Many of these men are able to see themselves in the dogs. Rejected and abandoned, the dogs help them come to terms with their past and present actions and behavior. Before I got arrested, I was real impulsive. You know, if I wanted to do something, I went and did it. If I had a thought, I went and did it. It was an immediate, like, there was no thinking through and decision making. When you're training a dog, you can't be impulsive like that. You can't be crazy and hyperactive, you know what I mean? Because they'll respond to that, and it'll make them worse. It's brought me a long way. It made me a lot more ready to transition back into society. I was a mess. I was a mess before I got arrested. More than 400 dogs from the program have been adopted by new families since 2010. Michael hopes that won't happen with Roxy, and she can stay with him. I would cry my eyes out. I'd cry. I'm not going to hide it either. I've seen grown men in this dorm many, many times. You know, they get really attached to their dog. Their dog will get adopted, and they'll lock themselves in their room and cry. You know, it's like I said earlier, it's like a kid. You know what I mean? It's like your kid just got adopted and ran off. She knows I'm talking about her. Our relationship with dogs is something very special. It is built on a foundation of positivity, trust, and loyalty. Dogs don't judge us. They only want us to see them as they are. And finally, there's one last secret to be revealed. Dogs' brains respond to us with the same feelings in the same brain areas as we respond to them. This means we can now answer the most pressing question on every dog owner's mind. Yes, your dog does truly love you. And that is probably the secret to our wonderful and lasting friendship.