A dramatic video from Lopburi, Thailand, shows a dog running to the rescue of a puppy that’s having trouble keeping its head above water in a fish pond. According to NowThis News, a surveillance camera captured a white dog named Soh being rescued by a larger dog named Hand.
Soh definitely appears to be struggling and calling out when, out of nowhere, Hand rushes to the rescue and pulls the dog out of the fish pond. Hand clearly could hear that Soh was in danger because it ran to its aid with purpose.
Humans often say they “don’t deserve dogs” but after watching this video it’s pretty clear that sometimes, dogs may feel the same way. The video shows that dogs can have an innate sympathy for one another. Hand could have dismissed Soh’s cries and thought, “More food for me,” but instead, the larger dog stepped up and saved the pup.
u201cSurveillance footage captured the moment a heroic dog in Lopburi, Thailand, sprang into action to rescue a fellow puppy that was stuck inside a pond in their human’s yardu201d— NowThis (@NowThis)
1660740480
It’s unclear if all the footage was shot by a security camera because there are two different angles. Recently, there’s been a trend in staged “drowning” videos where people pretend to be in danger to show off their dog’s rescue instincts. This doesn’t appear to be one, but there’s no doubt it shows off Hand’s innate altruism.
A study from Messerli Research Institute at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna found that dogs can behave altruistically toward one another by sharing food, but are more likely to do so if they are familiar with them.
“Dogs truly behave prosocially toward other dogs,” the study, published in Science Daily, said. “That had never been experimentally demonstrated before. What we also found was that the degree of familiarity among the dogs further influenced this behavior. Prosocial behavior was exhibited less frequently toward unfamiliar dogs than toward familiar ones.”
However, a recent study found that dogs show very little altruism toward humans in regard to food-sharing, whether they know them or not. So, if you’re waiting for your dog to give you a treat, don’t hold your breath.