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The secret social lives of dogs (and their humans)
Dog parks, mathematical giraffes, and a little Dolly Parton.
Greg Sullivan
November 06, 2026 • Est. Reading Time: 4 minutes
In partnership with
“If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience.”
― Woodrow Wilson
Happy Friday! If you're looking to make some new friends this weekend, you might want to start by borrowing a dog. Today, researcher Kevin B. Johnson takes us to a surprisingly important neighborhood gathering place, Tod Perry reveals a curious twist in the history of a Dolly Parton classic, and we've got giraffes demonstrating that they may be better at math than some of us.
Society
The humble dog park might be doing more for us than we realize.
Remember when people had places they just... went? The neighborhood bar, the coffee shop, the bowling alley. Places where you knew the regulars, nobody needed an invitation, and sometimes the best part of your day was a conversation you never planned. (🎶 Sometimes you wanna go, where everybody knows your name… 🎶)
Sociologists call them third places, and they're an increasingly rare commodity. But as University of Pennsylvania researcher Kevin B. Johnson discovered, one of the best surviving examples is full of slobbering, tail-wagging goofballs.
At his local dog park, the same 15 or 20 people gather most afternoons. They gossip, joke, commiserate, and look out for one another. Some might never have met otherwise. The dogs brought them together, but something much bigger keeps them coming back.
GOOD reader Cynthia Watson started our week with a version of this view shot under the full moon, and today we get to see what dawn looks like over the Chesapeake. I still don’t like daylight saving time, but if it means I’m up early enough to catch a view like this, I might cut it some slack. Or would I sleep in later? I don’t know! Why can’t I get my head around this?
Do you have a GOOD picture to share?
Send us your best images, and we may feature them as the image of the day. Be sure to tell us a bit about your pic.
Your Backyard Renovation List Is Missing Something
Every backyard renovation has a list. New deck. Better lighting. Maybe that outdoor kitchen you've been pinning for years.
Here's what usually gets left off: shelter. Without it, your brand-new patio is only as good as the weather forecast. A Hansø pergola fixes that.
Built from T6 aerospace-grade aluminum and engineered for up to 167 mph winds and up to 65 PSF snow load, it keeps your patio covered, comfortable, and in use from spring through winter. Motorized louvers let you decide how much sky you want, anytime.
Early Bird Offers EXTENDED: save up to 40% on pergolas, plus a $1,000 installation voucher, a Free Hansø ProCheck Care™ 10-Year Plan worth $950, FREE heater and more.
The list is long. Make sure the most important thing is on it.
What family of instruments does the saxophone belong to?It's made of brass, so this should be easy. Right? |
Yesterday's Results
In yesterday's issue, we shared a study that paid college students to get some sleep.
And we asked: How much is eight hours of sleep worth to you? The biggest group, 46.9%, said they'd actually pay someone else for a full eight hours. Another 42.3% would happily do it for free. In other words, some of us are seriously sleep-deprived.
Nothing. I'd do it for free! (42.3%)
$5 a night sounds fair. (4.0%)
At least $20 a night. (6.9%)
Pay me? I'd pay THEM for eight hours of sleep. (46.9%)
Pop Culture | Courtesy of Upworthy
 | ||
The Bee Gees wrote the hit ‘Islands in the Stream,’ but Dolly and Kenny weren’t their first choice | ||
The song would have been much different. | ||
By Tod Perry | ||
The Bee Gees enjoyed a decade of success as soft-rock singers with folk and country roots until 1977, when the band hit mega stardom after the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The Bee Gees were the biggest stars of the disco era with hits such as “Stayin’ Alive,” “How Deep Is Your Love,” and “Night Fever,” but by the end of the decade they found themselves in the heart of the “Disco Sucks” backlash. | ||
Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb’s iconic look and lush harmonies made it tough for them to do an about-face after disco ended, so they took a break and worked behind the scenes, writing and producing for other artists while the storm cleared. Their biggest hit from this era was “Islands in the Stream,” a duet between country stars Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton that crossed over with amazing success, hitting number one on the Billboard charts. | ||
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Science
A Barcelona experiment set out to see how far a giraffe's brain could stretch.
Give a giraffe two boxes of carrots and a few seconds to think, and something unexpected happens behind those long-lashed eyes. Researchers at the Barcelona Zoo ran four giraffes through a shell-game setup with hidden carrot pieces, shuffling snacks between containers and letting each animal pick the box it thought held more. As Erik Barnes reports, the giraffes landed on the fuller container about 68% of the time, a hit rate that suggests they weren't guessing at all.
The scientists think the giraffes were mentally adding the carrots up before choosing, joining a small club of animals that turn out to be quietly numerate. It puts them in company with chimpanzees picking the bigger pile of chocolate and other creatures whose brains keep doing things we assumed were ours alone. But the researchers ran a second version of the test, and that's where the giraffes' math skills hit a very specific wall.
Who’s a GOOD boy/girl?
Image of the Day has its own lane, but the pet pics keep arriving, and I am not made of stone. So every Friday, I’ll share one reader-submitted photo of a favorite pet. Want yours featured? Send it along.
GOOD reader Gail Gililland sends us this image of Jasper, relaxing in a sink. Cats are a delightful mystery. I can’t imagine choosing the hard sink as the place to relax in a home full of soft things, but they sure do seem to love it.
On November 6, 1814, Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax was born. He would go on to invent the saxophone, an instrument that became indispensable to jazz, blues, rock, and just about every romantic movie montage of the 1980s.
From John Coltrane to Kenny G, generations of musicians have made beautiful noise with an instrument named after its inventor. Sometimes history really does have a catchy soundtrack.
Do you have something GOOD to share?
We’re always on the lookout for uplifting, enlightening, and engaging content to share with readers like you. If you have something you think should be featured in the Daily GOOD, let me know!
💬 From the group text…
Aristotle had some pretty specific standards for what makes a good person. Something GOOD to think about this weekend.
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Until next week, remember: once you’ve learned the dog’s name, it’s good manners to ask the owner’s name too.