Scientists have discovered that dogs recognise people by their voices

Scientists offered 28 dogs and their owners to play hide-and-seek in laboratory conditions. The owner hid behind one wall, and a person unfamiliar to the dog hid behind the other.

Both read the same texts in a neutral tone of voice. The dog’s task was to favour one or the other voice. The game consisted of several rounds with 14 different voices of strangers, some resembling the owner’s voice and others differing dramatically.

To make sure that the dogs did not identify their owners by smell, the experts used recordings of the voices in two rounds.