Tinsley is a real life hero. As dogs continue to amaze us, Tinsley escaped a wreckage and led police back to her humans. After her owner was in a sever accident late at night on January 3rd, 2022, this Shepherd sought out for help in hypothermic conditions. She potentially saved the lives of everyone involved in the accident.
A new study done by researchers at Arizona State University shows that dogs will do what they can when their owner is in need of help. Among the dogs in the experiment, 84% rescued their owners. The implication, suggests co-author Van Bourg, is clear: “Most dogs want to rescue you, but they need to know how.” The ASU study had two overarching goals: to determine whether or not dogs want to rescue their owners and, if they do, to understand the actual reasons. Co-author Clive Wynne also adds “The results from the control tests indicate that dogs who fail to rescue their people are unable to understand what to do — it’s not that they don’t care about their people.”
Next up for the researchers is further investigation of dogs’ willingness to attempt a rescue when they do not get the reward of physical proximity with their owners.
