A study led by Adam Miklosi found that dogs can teach us a little something about the effectiveness of humor as a stress-buster. The study measured levels of the stress hormone cortisol before and after the dogs played, examining two different groups of working dogs: German shepherds who worked for the Hungarian police and German shepherds who worked at Hungarian border crossings. The results, surprisingly, were quite different. The police dogs’ stress levels rose, whereas the border-crossing dogs’ cortisol levels decreased. Why?

It turns out the dogs worked in two very different cultures with different styles of play. Whereas the police commanded their dogs to play, the border guards engaged their dogs in voluntary play. An important lesson, perhaps, for us two-legged workers!