• Posted March 14, 2025

Playing With Dogs Relieves Stress In Humans And Canines Alike

Playing with a dog for just 15 minutes can significantly reduce a person’s stress, a new study reports.

Stressed students who interacted with a friendly dog reported less stress, had a reduced heart rate and had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their saliva, researchers said in the journal PLOS One.

The experience also appears to be beneficial for dogs, researchers added. Fecal tests showed that canine cortisol levels were lower a week after hanging with a human.

“Even brief interactions with dogs can significantly reduce stress levels among university undergraduate students,” concluded the research team led by senior investigator Jaruwan Khonmee with Chiang Mai University in Thailand.

For the study, researchers recruited six friendly dogs 3 to 6 years old to interact with college students. They included five chihuahuas raised by veterinarians and a Shetland sheepdog raised by a psychologist.

None of the dogs were certified for therapy work, researchers noted. This was the first time they’d participated in any sort of canine-assisted intervention, and they participated without the presence of their owner.

In the main library of Chaing Mai University, 122 students completed a stress assessment questionnaire, had their blood pressure and pulse taken, and provided a saliva sample for cortisol testing.

They then were given 15 minutes to play with a dog after being told the pooch’s name, personality traits and preferred interactions.

The students could do whatever they wanted – look at the dog, pet it, give treats, hug it, play with it.

Afterward, they went through another round of tests to assess their stress levels.

The dogs provided fecal and saliva samples before and after their time with students, to see whether the play benefitted them as well.

Students showed self-reported and physical improvements in stress following their 15 minutes with a dog, results show.

“Compared to immediately before, students’ self-reported stress levels decreased by 33.5% after interacting with the dog,” researchers reported.

The students also had improvements in their pulse rate and cortisol levels, researchers noted.

There were no changes in salivary cortisol in the dogs on the day of play, but their fecal cortisol levels were lower a week after they spent time with the students, researchers said.

“Overall, these findings contribute to our understanding of the beneficial impact of human-dog interactions on human stress levels and highlight the importance of addressing stress in both humans and animals during targeted interventions,” researchers concluded.

“In contexts where certified dogs and handlers are not readily available, non-certified dogs could still offer mental health benefits,” the team added.

More information

Northwell Health has more on the benefits of pet therapy.

SOURCE: PLOS One, March 12, 2025