Researchers find that dogs can laugh and it calms other dogs. I’m not sure if this qualifies a genuine breakthrough but its interesting none the less. Dogs can show aggression, fear, and other emotional responses so pleasure and “laughing” shouldn’t be out of reach.
They say the long, loud pant is the sound of a dog laughing, and it has a direct impact on the behavior of other dogs.
It’s more noteworthy that researchers (where do they get these funds by the way?) have indentified the laugh as a a long, loud pant. This confirms the suspicions of 70s Hanna Barbera Cartoonists (Muttley’s laugh: listen here).