Secret Side Effects of Owning a Dog, According to Science Secret Side Effects of Owning a Dog, According to Science It's simply a fact that our favorite furry friends love us. For instance, recent research published in the scientific journal PLOS One found that dogs with no prior rescue training at all instinctively knew to save their owners in a simulated emergency. When participating owners were "locked" in a box and instructed to yell "help!," one-third of the dogs not only ran over to help but also figured out how to open the box and rescue their owner. "Most dogs would run into a burning building just because they can't stand to be apart from their owners. How sweet is that? And if they know you're in distress, well, that just ups the ante," says study co-author Joshua Van Bourg of Arizona State University.