Our canine¹ companions come in many sizes, shapes and personalities², but they all seem to share a common sensitive trait.

我们的爱犬有各种各样的大小、体型和性格，但它们似乎都有一个共同的敏感特征。

 

"She can sense that I'm stressed, so she gets more stressed."

“我的狗能察觉到我有压力，所以它会变得更有压力。”

 

"Soon as I like get up off the couch, they know if I'm going for a run or like they know how I'm feeling…"

 “只要我从沙发上一站起来，狗狗们就知道我是不是要去跑步，好像它们知道我的感受。”

 

Victoria Gill, BBC correspondent

"Many dog owners will tell you that their pets can sense their mood. But now,  there is some evidence to suggest that they can smell our psychological state. Can't you?"

维多利亚·吉尔       BBC通讯员

“很多狗主人都会告诉你，他们的宠物狗能感知他们的情绪。但现在，有一些证据表明，狗能嗅出我们的心理状态。（对狗说）是不是？”

 

This is a stress sniff³ test devised by scientists.

这是科学家们设计的一项 “压力嗅探测试”。

 

Willing pet dogs, volunteered by their owners, were trained to nose through this canister line-up.

通过主人报名，宠物狗积极接受训练来嗅探这一排罐子。

 

Each can contains a sample of sweat or breath taken from a person either before or just after they had completed a difficult stress-inducing maths problem.

每个罐子里装有一个人的汗水或呼吸样本，样本是在此人完成一道容易引起压力的数学难题之前或之后采集的。

 

The task – sniff out a stressed person sample.

狗的任务是嗅出从有压力的人身上采集的样本。

 

Clara Wilson, Queen's University Belfast

"Soot⁴ is one of our study dogs. She is a three-year-old mixed breed, and she's a rescue dog, and she's absolutely gorgeous."

克莱拉·威尔逊       贝尔法斯特女王大学

“苏特是参加这个研究的狗狗之一。它是一只三岁的混种救援犬，它是一只流浪狗，它漂亮极了。”

 

Victoria Gill, BBC correspondent

"This is Herbert."

维多利亚·吉尔     BBC通讯员

“这是赫伯特。”

 

Clara Wilson, Queen's University Belfast

"Oh, they do look kind of similar."

克莱拉·威尔逊     贝尔法斯特女王大学

“它俩长得确实有点像。”

 

Victoria Gill, BBC correspondent

"They do, don't they?"

维多利亚·吉尔     BBC通讯员

“还真是挺像的。”

 

Clara Wilson, Queen's University Belfast

"Having a psychological stress response changes the way that our body is emitting odours and dogs can detect that change."

克莱拉·威尔逊       贝尔法斯特女王大学

“产生心理压力反应会改变我们身体散发气味的方式，而狗可以察觉到这种变化。”

 

Victoria Gill, BBC correspondent

"Why was stress of particular interest to you?"

维多利亚·吉尔       BBC通讯员

“你为什么对研究压力这种情绪特别感兴趣？”

 

Clara Wilson, Queen's University Belfast

"I think it's just really interesting to kind of confirm that alongside everything that we're aware of, there are these more subtle cues that we might be emitting that dogs are picking up on."

克莱拉·威尔逊       贝尔法斯特女王大学

“因为我觉得能证实这一点很有趣，除了已知狗有察觉力以外，我们散发出的更微妙的气味线索也能被狗捕捉到。”

 

The researchers say their findings could help in the training of service and therapy dogs – understanding exactly what human scent⁵ cues their noses can detect. But the researchers also 'sniffed⁶ out' one more reason why people feel so connected to their dogs.

研究人员表示，这个发现可以帮助训练服务犬和治疗犬，途径是准确了解狗鼻子能嗅到哪些人类气味。与此同时，研究人员也 “嗅出了” 人与狗如此亲密的一个原因是狗能嗅出人的情绪。

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