From Emotion Contagion to Rescue Behavior Response: A Study in Guide Dog Population

Domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) is a key model for studying cross-species emotion contagion. To systematically profile empathy-like behavior, this study integrated two established paradigms—the emotion contagion test and the rescue behavior test—in a population of guide dogs in order to examine responses from the perception of human emotional cues to reactions toward external emotional expressions. Results indicated that dogs exhibited no significant behavioral differentiation across happy, sad, and neutral conditions except gaze at caregiver in the emotion contagion test. While during the rescue behavior test, dogs responded differentially based on the experimenter’s emotional state and social familiarity. These findings suggest that guide dogs display context-dependent behavioral sensitivity to human emotion modulated by emotional state and social familiarity, particularly in scenarios involving overt distress signals. By integrating complementary behavioral paradigms, this study advances a more comprehensive understanding of canine socio-emotional research.