When dogs hear their owners speak, they are listening for consonants in words rather than vowels, a new study suggests, apparently mimicking a similar human bias that is found across many languages.

Although dogs don鈥檛 have language, they live in a speech-rich environment, says at E枚tv枚s Lor谩nd University in Hungary.

鈥淲e knew from our previous studies that dogs care about what we speak and how we speak, but until now there was no evidence that dogs鈥� experience with speech can actually shape how their brains function,鈥� says Andics.

To investigate how a life with humans and listening to constant talk has impacted dogs鈥� brains, Andics and his colleagues recruited 20 adult human Hungarian speakers and 20 companion dogs with Hungarian owners.

Andics says while many Eastern European languages are consonant heavy, Hungarian isn鈥檛.

鈥淭here are some studies suggesting that consonant bias during speech segmentation is weaker, or not there, in people who mostly listen to Mandarin or Danish, in which languages consonants are not, or not that much, more informative about word boundaries than vowels,鈥� he says.

During the experiment, the human and dog participants separately listened to continuous, unsegmented speech streams of nonsense words while connected to EEG monitors, measuring the electrical activity of the participants鈥� brains.

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Consonants and vowels alternated throughout these streams, with no pauses or other acoustic cues separating them, says Andics.

There were three types of nonsense streams. In the first, recurring consonant patterns formed consecutive three-syllable words 鈥� such as 鈥渕ozite鈥�. In the second, stronger vowel patterns formed the skeleton of the words 鈥� such as 鈥渮obefu鈥�. And in the third, there were no recurring patterns at all, with syllables in a random order 鈥� such as 鈥渇umoza鈥�.

He says the team made use of a phenomenon called 鈥渘eural synchronisation鈥�, in which brain activity can take on the rhythm that we detect in the sounds we hear.

鈥淭he more reliably we detect that rhythm, the more rhythmic the brain response becomes,鈥� says Andics. 鈥淲e expected that if a species鈥� brain has a preference for consonants, it should follow the rhythm of the words more easily when consonants form the structure of those words.鈥�

The difference was substantial, the scientists found. In dogs, the neural response to consonant-based regularities was 42 per cent stronger than the response to vowel-based regularities, and 55 per cent stronger than the response to the random stream.

鈥淪o, this is how much more dog brains tracked word rhythm when consonants defined the words,鈥� says Andics.

In humans, the response to consonant-patterned words was nearly 25 per cent higher than to vowel-based regularities and 77 per cent higher than to the random condition.
The team thinks that dogs who weren鈥檛 exposed to human speech wouldn鈥檛 have this bias, although they haven鈥檛 yet tested this idea.

鈥淲e argue that the only reason companion dogs have a consonant bias is that human speech, and specifically the characteristics of words, reshaped their brains,鈥� says Andics.

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at the University of Sydney, Australia, says the team convincingly shows that these dogs display more sensitivity to statistical patterns in consonants, rather than in vowels.

But with some important caveats 鈥� especially that these are Hungarian dogs, living with Hungarian speakers.

鈥淭here鈥檚 7000 different languages in the world and some of them rely a lot more on things like tonal distinctions,鈥� says Enfield. But if you do want your dog to pay attention to you, there may be a practical take home, he says.

鈥淭he lesson here may be to give your dog a name with more consonants in it than one with more vowels.鈥�

Two beagles called Alfie and Bailey lack the main protein that causes allergic reactions to dogs, thanks to CRISPR gene editing. The dogs will be 2 years old in September and show no signs of adverse effects, according to , the company behind them.

鈥淚鈥檝e lived with allergies my whole life. They prevented me and my family from ever having a dog,鈥� says Kindred co-founder Matt Walker. 鈥淎nd my wife, Maggie, has always wanted a dog.鈥� Walker previously worked as a researcher studying neuron development in worms by using CRISPR gene editing to disable specific genes. He realised it might be possible to use the technique to prevent dogs causing allergies, and founded Kindred in 2020.

How were Alfie and Bailey created?

Previous studies have found that the main allergen that triggers reactions to dogs is a protein called Can f 1. It is secreted by the tongue and by glands in the skin, so it is present both in the fur of dogs and in their saliva.

The Kindred team took skin cells from a female beagle and used the gene-editing tool CRISPR Cas9 to mutate the Can f 1 gene 鈥� the result was an extra DNA letter at the start of the gene that shifts the way the recipe for making the Can f 1 protein is read by cells, turning it into gibberish. Once the team members had confirmed they had made the desired change without introducing unwanted mutations, they cloned the cells. Altogether, the team transferred 25 embryos to a surrogate, of which two implanted and developed to term.

Does removing this protein really prevent allergies?

Bailey is Walker鈥檚 pet dog, and he says he has no reaction to her at all. She was cavorting in the background when New 女生小视频 spoke to him. Kindred has also showing that Can f 1 is undetectable in Alfie and Bailey, and that there are no allergic reactions to samples from them in skin-prick tests, whereas samples from normal dogs do provoke a reaction.

However, Can f 1 isn鈥檛 the only protein in dogs that can trigger allergic reactions 鈥� there are also so-called minor allergens, such as Can f 2. 鈥淚f we do find that there鈥檚 a substantial population that is still responding to the dogs, then that is something we could address,鈥� says Walker.

And could the process be harmful to dogs?

We don鈥檛 know for sure what the function of Can f 1 is, but Walker says he was confident from experiments on mice that there would be no serious consequences from deleting it. So far, both dogs appear normal and healthy, he says. 鈥淥f course, that鈥檚 something that we鈥檙e monitoring very closely, and will continue to monitor over the animals鈥� lives.鈥�

Isn鈥檛 it already possible to buy 鈥渉ypoallergenic鈥� dogs?

Some breeds, such as poodles and goldendoodles, are said to be less likely to trigger allergic reactions, but Walker says he responds just as much to the goldendoodle his parents bought after he left home as he does to any other dog. In the paper, his team shows that Can f 1 is detectable in both breeds, and that samples from them trigger reactions in skin-prick tests.

This is in line with independent evidence. The American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology says some 鈥渉ypoallergenic鈥� breeds .听

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When will these dogs be commercially available?

Not for some time. Kindred first needs regulatory approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. If it gets that, it then needs to create lots more of these dogs. For each dog breed, the company will have to create a genetically diverse set of 鈥渇ounder鈥� dogs that can then be bred normally. Walker couldn鈥檛 say how many founder dogs would be required per breed.

Is it ethical to genetically engineer dogs just to prevent allergies?

鈥淲e aren鈥檛 using gene editing for novelty or some cosmetic reason,鈥� says Walker. 鈥淎llergies are a real health problem. They affect a significant portion of the population, and lead to serious conditions such as asthma triggering asthmatic attacks.鈥�

By contrast,聽conventional dog breeding is often done purely for the sake of appearance, and can introduce mutations that cause serious harm, such as those found in聽breeds like pugs聽.听Nevertheless, Kindred is altering dogs for the benefit of humans rather than the benefit of the animals themselves. In response to this, Walker says聽people discovering they are allergic to dogs is a leading reason for animals having to be rehomed.听

Is Kindred planning to gene-edit cats, too, to prevent allergies?

鈥淩ight now, we鈥檙e focused exclusively on dogs,鈥� Walker says. The main allergen in cats, called fel d 1, is encoded by two genes rather than one, so getting rid of the protein is more complex. Another company called InBio announced plans to create cats free of fel d 1 in 2022.

Dogs may be man鈥檚 best friend, but what if they boost our well-being not just by being our furry companions, but by altering our microbiome? A series of experiments in mice suggests that dog owners have a unique makeup of bacterial species that encourage empathetic and social behaviours.

We know that pets improve 聽and play a role in shaping our gut microbiome. Research also increasingly suggests that this microbiome and even helps mould our personalities. With dogs typically topping popular pet lists, at Azabu University in Japan wanted to understand whether the animals change our microbiome in a way that prompts good well-being.

To explore this, the researchers analysed surveys where the caregivers of 343 adolescents 鈥� aged 12 to 14, who lived in Tokyo 鈥� reported on various aspects of their social behaviour, such as how often they felt lonely, were cruel to others or struggled to get on with their peers. The surveys also revealed that about a third of the adolescents had a pet dog.

The researchers found that those with dogs ranked as less socially withdrawn and behaved less aggressively than the non-dog-owners, on average. The team accounted for other factors that may influence such behaviours, such as sex and household income.

Saliva samples also revealed that several species of Streptococcus bacteria were more abundant in the adolescents with dogs, which has been .

鈥淚f you鈥檙e playing with a dog a lot, you鈥檙e going to have a lot of exposures to the microbes the dog has, from licks [and] them jumping up on you,鈥� says at University College Cork in Ireland. These bacteria can travel down to the gastrointestinal tract, where they may , which improve mental health, he says.

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In a critical part of the study, the team transplanted oral microbes from three dog owners and three non-dog-owners into the stomachs of germ-free mice. Based on stool samples, they could tell that the microbes had reached the mice鈥檚 guts.

Over the next few weeks, the team had the animals carry out a series of behavioural tests. In one, the mice were placed in a cage with another mouse that was trapped in a tube. The researchers observed that the mice that received transplants from dog owners chewed the tube and poked their nose through holes in it significantly more often than those that received transplants from non-dog-owners.

This suggests that the former mice had more empathy and were trying to help, says Kikusui. We鈥檝e recently learned more about care-giving among mice, with studies finding that they assist their pregnant companions with giving birth, and even give a form of first aid.

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In another test, the dog-owner transplant recipients sniffed at an unfamiliar mouse in their cage more often than the other group, which suggests they were more social, says Clarke. 鈥淭hese social behaviours are relevant across species, including humans,鈥� he says. 鈥淪ocial networks are a positive thing for mental health 鈥� if you have low exposure to social networks, or if your social network is small, then that probably isn鈥檛 a good thing.鈥�

Learning more about these microbial changes could one day benefit people without dogs, for instance, if we can develop probiotics that mimic them, says Clarke. But studies in other geographical locations, where microbial exposures may vary, are needed, he says.

Vegetarian and vegan dog foods just need a few tweaks to make them nutritionally complete diets.

Analyses reveal that meat-free dry kibbles meet dogs鈥� protein and fat requirements, lacking only sufficient iodine and B vitamins. With supplements or 鈥� better yet 鈥� improved commercial preparation, plant-based dog food could keep the animals healthy while reducing the environmental impact of the pet food industry, says at the University of Nottingham, UK.

鈥淎s long as they鈥檙e getting all of the essential nutrients from those ingredients, then the dogs are going to thrive,鈥� she says.

Many vegans and vegetarians who own dogs struggle with the ethics of feeding meat to their omnivore pets, says , also at the University of Nottingham. Responding to that concern, pet food manufacturers have started offering plant-based foods to consumers.

Government organisations like the European Pet Food Industry Federation and the Association of American Feed Control Officials require standardised testing of commercial pet foods and additives to ensure they meet nutritional standards. Even so, most pet foods worldwide do not go through robust nutritional testing by independent research teams, says Gardner.

Brociek, Gardner and their colleagues analysed 25 commercial dry foods for healthy adult dogs 鈥� 19 containing meat and six based exclusively on plants. Among the latter, two were labelled as vegetarian and four were vegan.

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None of the foods met all the official nutritional guidelines for dogs, despite being packaged as nutritionally complete, the researchers say. Even so, all the foods had acceptable concentrations of protein, fatty acids and essential amino acids.

Most 鈥� including five of the six plant-based foods 鈥� didn鈥檛 have enough iodine, but seaweed could easily make up for that deficiency.

Vitamins in general were sufficient across the board, except for vitamin B, which came up particularly short in plant-based foods. Dogs low in vitamin B can have issues with their skin, nerves and digestive systems, so manufacturers should supplement those foods, the researchers say.

The findings point to oversights in all kinds of dog food manufacturing, not just those based on plants, says at Murdoch University in Australia. 鈥淐onsumers are expecting that if products are labelled as being nutritionally sound, and that will be true, but clearly it鈥檚 not true,鈥� he says.

鈥淚 believe a vegetarian diet can be adequate if carefully supplemented with nutrients lacking in plants 鈥� as is the case for humans who choose a vegetarian diet,鈥� says at the University of Pisa in Italy. Owners should avoid making their own plant-based foods for their pets, she adds.

Pet dogs have evolved to be able to eat a wide variety of foods, so feeding them well-balanced, plant-based meals can satisfy their nutritional needs while avoiding the , like greenhouse gas emissions, says Gardner.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e true omnivores,鈥� he says. 鈥淎s most Labrador owners 鈥� myself included 鈥� will tell you, they鈥檒l eat anything.鈥�

If your dog will jump in the nearest river, pond or lake given half a chance, don鈥檛 use spot-on treatments for fleas and ticks, say researchers.

A study has shown that when dogs are immersed in water, their skin and fur can release levels of the active ingredients harmful to aquatic wildlife and the animals that eat them 鈥� including birds 鈥� for up to 28 days after treatment.

鈥淚f your dog swims regularly, you shouldn鈥檛 be treating it with spot-on,鈥� says at the University of Sussex, UK.

When spot-on treatments were first introduced, they were wrongly assumed not to have any consequences for the wider environment. Only in 2011 did a European Medicines Agency paper , and this suggestion was not based on any experiments, says Perkins. 鈥淚 could find absolutely no supporting evidence for that. It鈥檚 just a thumb-suck figure.鈥�

She started to suspect there was an issue after finding fipronil, one of the pesticides used in spot-on treatments, in rivers in the UK. 鈥淲e found astonishingly high levels,鈥� says Perkins.

So her team applied spot-on treatments containing either fipronil or a neonicotinoid called imidacloprid to 25 and 24 dogs, respectively. After five, 14 or 28 days, the dogs were immersed in water up to their shoulders in plastic tubs for 5 minutes, and the levels of the pesticides in the water were then measured.

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The team found that even after 28 days, the amount of pesticide coming off a single large dog in this time frame would be enough to exceed safe levels if mixed into a 100-cubic-metre body of water. That鈥檚 the volume of a pond a few metres across, but even much larger bodies of water will exceed the safe limit if lots of treated dogs swim in them often, says Perkins.

She argues that regulators around the world should change guidelines but suspects this could take a long time, if it happens at all. But dog owners can act now 鈥� they should use spot-on treatments only when necessary, rather as a preventative, says Perkins, as well as keep dogs away from water for at least a month after treatment. 鈥淭he take-home finding is that there is an element of risk if your dog goes swimming at any point within that period.鈥�

There is now an alternative to spot-on treatments in the form of oral tablets, but Perkins says it isn鈥檛 clear if these are better. The active ingredients are long-lasting chemicals that are excreted in faeces and can pollute soils, she says. 鈥淲e just have no idea what their impact is.鈥�