Animals & Environment
Select a Level
NEW
1 Sept 2026
Dogs’ brains showed stronger responses when viewing pictures of happy human faces over neutral ones.
Science Shows Dogs Can Tell When You Are Scared or Sad
Warm-up → Read & Listen → Check Understanding → Language → Use It
WARM UP
Think Ahead: Which detail do you think appears in this story?
a) Dogs use brain scans to look at humans.
b) Dogs can see if a person is happy, scared, or sad.
c) Dogs only like to eat fast food.
Ask:
(1) Do you have a pet dog or know a friendly dog?
(2) How do you feel when you see a happy dog?
VOCABULARY
brain (/breɪn/, noun)
Meaning: The part inside your head that helps you think and feel.
Example: My brain helps me learn new words at school.
fear (/fɪə/, noun)
Meaning: A feeling when you are scared of something.
Example: The loud storm gave the little dog a big fear.
happy (/ˈhæp.i/, adjective)
Meaning: Feeling good, glad, or full of joy.
Example: The children are happy when they play outside.
photo (/ˈfəʊ.təʊ/, noun)
Meaning: A picture made with a camera.
Example: I took a nice photo of my brown pet dog.
sad (/sæd/, adjective)
Meaning: Feeling unhappy or down.
Example: She feels sad when her soft balloon pops.
scan (/skæn/, noun)
Meaning: A special test that takes pictures inside the body.
Example: The doctor looked at a scan of the dog.
Dogs are great animal friends. They live with us and watch us every day. Now, scientists know something cool. Dogs know how we feel! Scientists used a special picture machine. It takes a brain scan. Dogs looked at photos of human faces. Some faces were smiling. Some faces looked sad or scared.
The tests show that dog brains change with each face. A smiling face makes the dog brain very happy. Dogs like happy faces best. But dogs also know when you feel sad. They see if your face has fear or anger. Their brains work in a special way for each feeling. Dogs read our faces to help us!
Listen
Photo by Miguelangel Perez on Unsplash
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
(1) Why do you think dogs like happy faces best?
(2) How do you help a friend who feels sad?
(3) Do you think dogs are good animal helpers?
(4) What do you do when your pet feels scared?
(5) Would you like to study animal brains one day?
FILL IN THE GAPS
FILL THE GAPS
Section 1: Fill in the Gaps
Word Bank: fear, happy, sad, scan
Dogs are great animal friends. They live with us and watch us every day. Now, scientists know something cool. Dogs know how we feel! Scientists used a special picture machine. It takes a brain _______(1). Dogs looked at photos of human faces. Some faces were smiling. Some faces looked sad or scared.
The tests show that dog brains change with each face. A smiling face makes the dog brain very _______(2). Dogs like happy faces best. But dogs also know when you feel _______(3). They see if your face has _______(4) or anger. Their brains work in a special way for each feeling. Dogs read our faces to help us!
Section 2: Main Idea
What is the main idea of this story?
a) Dogs like to run in the park all day.
b) Tests show dog brains know different human feelings.
c) Scientists prefer cats over dogs.
UNDERSTANDING
Section 3: True or False
(1) Scientists used a picture machine to look at dog brains. T/F
(2) Dogs dislike looking at happy smiling faces. T/F
(3) A dog's brain works in a special way for different faces. T/F
Section 4: Put Events in Order
Put these story events in order from 1 to 3:
( ) Dogs looked at photos of human faces.
( ) Scientists used a machine to take a brain scan.
( ) Scientists learned that dog brains know how we feel.
LANGUAGE
Section 5: Vocab Match
(1) brain
(2) fear
(3) happy
(4) photo
(5) sad
a) feeling full of joy
b) a picture made with a camera
c) feeling unhappy
d) the thinking part inside your head
e) a feeling of being scared
USE IT
Section 6: Discussion Builder
(1) When my dog sees my happy face, it feels _____.
a) glad
b) cold
c) dark
(2) A dog brain scan shows us _____ facts about pets.
a) new
b) hot
c) sleepy
Section 7: Sentence Unscramble
(1) Unscramble these words to make a sentence:
A) know
B) how
C) feel.
D) Dogs
E) we
(2) Unscramble these words to make a sentence:
A) like
B) happy
C) best.
D) faces
E) Dogs
ANSWER KEY
Answer Key - A1 Level
Warm Up Think Ahead: b
Section 1: (1) scan (2) happy (3) sad (4) fear
Section 2: b
Section 3: (1) True (2) False (3) True
Section 4: 2, 1, 3
Section 5: (1) d (2) e (3) a (4) b (5) c
Section 6: (1) a (2) a
Section 7: (1) D-A-B-E-C (Dogs know how we feel.) (2) E-A-B-D-C (Dogs like happy faces best.)
Section 8: Teacher-guided discussion answers will vary.
Thank you for your feedback!