• On Good Things Utah this morning – Pet that pooch before you leave the house! According to research, giving our pups a little loving before we head out the door actually does help keep them calm while we’re away. A study published in the September-October 2018 issue of the Journal of Veterinary Behavior found that petting a dog before leaving home has a positive effect on the animal’s stress response. In the pilot study, researchers divided the dogs into two categories. In the gentle petting group, owners stroked their dogs for a minute before going away and leaving the pet with the experimenter, while owners in the neutral condition ignored their dog for a minute before exiting. The owners were gone for a total of three minutes in both conditions (they went to stand behind a shed so their dogs couldn’t see them). The researchers monitored the dogs’ behaviors while the owners were gone, measured the dogs’ heart rates before and after the separation, and noted the animals’ salivary cortisol after their owners left (excess drooling can be a sign of stress). The experimenters noticed that though none of the dogs were highly stressed, the animals from both groups spent almost half the time looking for their missing owners.
  • Plus, whether you discovered your first silver strand or you’ve decided to let your natural hair color shine, it’s normal to find yourself wondering, why does hair turn gray? And while we’ve alled ways to embrace and style your gray hair, the science behind why white and gray strands occur is actually quite interesting. We’ve all heard the thought that stress causes gray hair, and in fact, recent studies suggest a link between the two. But, there are so many more reasons why your locks might be getting lighter. In fact, general aging and even your genes could have a lot more to do with your silver strands than you might think. And underlying health conditions like vitamin deficiency or alopecia could even be a factor. So we asked dermatologists to explain why hair turns gray, what causes premature graying, and if it’s possible to reverse gray hair. Tune in while Surae explains.
  • And as if Disneyland wasn’t magical enough, the parks have been working to be more inclusive of all of their guests and recently a girl named Zoe Tapley got to experience it herself. Zoe is deaf and when her family was visiting Disneyland recently she was doing her rounds meeting the characters, when the woman dressed as Ana from Frozen began using American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate. The special moment was caught on camera by Zoe’s mom Jeanette Tapley who shared it to her TikTok page where it has racked up over two million views and over 450,000 likes. We’ll show you the video.
  • Finally, it’s a very specific band of nostalgia that might only hit for a narrow group of people, but there’s a warm Munsters adjacent feeling that comes from the occasional return of monster cereals. (Even if you’re more into the art than the cereal.) General Mills has announced that the colorful, cereal-loving monsters are coming back in 2022 and will start to appear on shelves like a zombie rising from the grave in August. The resurrection of monster cereals includes Frute Brute, Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo-Berry. Fruit Brute is back for the first time since 2013 with its “howlin’-good taste of fruit” that comes with marshmallows. Count Chocula, who I always assumed was something of a father figure to the other four (RIP Yummy Mummy), contains chocolate cereal and chocolate marshmallows. Franken Berry, which debuted in 1971, is a strawberry-flavored cereal that’ll turn your milk pink. And Boo-Berry, just adjacent to Franken Berry, debuted in 1972 and is a blueberry-flavored version of the cereal.
  • Hope you tune into these Hot Topics and so much more this morning on Good Things Utah!