Behavioural synchronisation between different groups of dogs and wolves and their owners/handlers: Exploring the effect of breed and human interaction.

Dogs have previously been shown to synchronise their behaviour with their owner and the aim of this study was to test the effect of immediate interactions, breed, and the effects of domestication. The behavioural synchronisation test was conducted in outdoor enclosures and consisted of 30 s where the owner/handler was walking and 30 s of standing still. Three studies were conducted to explore the effect of immediate interaction (study A), the effect of breed group (study B), and the effect of domestication (study C). In study A, a group of twenty companion dogs of various breeds were tested after three different human interaction treatments: Ignore, Pet, and Play. The results showed that dogs adjusted their movement pattern to align with their owner's actions regardless of treatment. Furthermore, exploration, eye contact, and movement were all influenced by the owners moving pattern, and exploration also decreased after the Play treatment. In study B, the synchronisation test was performed after the Ignore treatment on three groups: 24 dogs of ancient dog breeds, 17 solitary hunting dogs, and 20 companion dogs (data from study A). Irrespective of the group, all dogs synchronised their moving behaviour with their owner. In addition, human walking positively influenced eye contact behaviour while simultaneously decreasing exploration behaviour. In study C, a group of six socialised pack-living wolves and six similarly socialised pack-living dogs were tested after the Ignore treatment. Interestingly, these animals did not alter their moving behaviour in response to their handler. In conclusion, dogs living together with humans synchronise with their owner's moving behaviour, while wolves and dogs living in packs do not. Hence, the degree of interspecies behavioural synchronisation may be influenced by the extent to which the dogs are immersed in everyday life with humans.

Talking treats: A qualitative study to understand the importance of treats in the pet-caregiver relationship.

Treats are a prevalent aspect of pet care, frequently given by dog and cat caregivers for varying reasons. However, recommendations of reducing or eliminating treat feeding poses a common challenge, leading to potential non-adherence surrounding weight management practices. To explore caregivers' perceptions and experiences surrounding treat feeding, we conducted five online focus groups with 24 dog and cat caregivers, recruited via an infographic shared on social media using snowball sampling. NVivo12© was used to organize and analyze verbatim transcripts using inductive thematic analysis. Outcomes illustrated three major themes: 1) the role of treats as an important tool for caregivers; 2) considerations for treat selection and provision; and 3) caregivers' need for more and better information and support related to treats. Participants emphasized the importance of treats for managing behaviours, health-related activities, and enhancing the pet-caregiver relationship. Results suggest that the diverse and valued applications of treats, caregivers' satisfaction associated with treat-giving, and perceived lack of guidance surrounding treats may present challenges for caregivers in reducing treat feeding with their pets. Findings highlight opportunities to enhance the available resources that can empower both veterinary professionals and caregivers to make well-informed decisions and foster sustainable changes in treat feeding practices to support weight management and overall health. Such considerations can improve client compliance with veterinary recommendations, to promote companion animal health and well-being while fostering the human-animal bond.

Dogs' social susceptibility is differentially affected by various dog-Human interactions. A study on family dogs, former shelter dogs and therapy dogs.

When pre-treated with social stimuli prior to testing, dogs are more susceptible to human influence in a food preference task. This means, after a positive social interaction they are more willing to choose the smaller amount of food indicated by the human, as opposed to their baseline preference for the bigger amount. In the current study we investigate if and how various forms of social interaction modulate choices in the same social susceptibility task, testing dogs with varying early life history (pet dogs, therapy dogs, former shelter dogs). In line with previous studies, dogs in general were found to be susceptible to human influence as reflected in the reduced number of "bigger" choices in the human influence, compared to baseline, trials. This was true not only for pet dogs with a normal life history, but also for dogs adopted from a shelter. Therapy dogs, however, did not uniformly change their preference for the bigger quantity of food in the human influence trials; they only did so if prior to testing they had been pre-treated with social stimuli by their owner (but not by a stranger). Pet dogs were also more influenced after pre-treatment with social stimuli by their owner compared to ignoring and separation; however after pre-treatment by a stranger their behaviour did not differ from ignoring and separation. Former shelter dogs on the other hand were equally influenced regardless of pre-treatment by owner versus stranger. In summary these results show that dogs' social susceptibility is modulated by both interactions immediately preceding the test as well as by long term social experiences.

Walk or be walked by the dog? The attachment role.

BACKGROUND: The human-animal bond has been recognized as having positive effects on the health and well-being of both humans and pets. The present study aims to explore the influence of attachment on physical activity (PA), lifestyle, and health outcomes of dog owners (DO), highlighting the mutual benefits resulting from the relationship between DO and dogs. METHODS: Thirty-eight DO and their dogs participated in this study. Socio-demographic data, the Self-Rated Health (SRH), FANTASTICO Lifestyle Scale, and the Lexington Attachment Pet Scale (LAPS) were assessed. PA was measured in both the DO and the dogs, using an ActiGraph GT3X accelerometer in the context of daily routine. Descriptive statistics and Spearman rank correlation analyses were performed to examine the associations between LAPS, PA levels, socio-demographic variables, lifestyle behaviors, and SRH. RESULTS: Significant correlations were found between the dog owners' light-level PA and the pets' vigorous level of PA (rho = 0.445, p = 0.01). Furthermore, the importance of the pets' health (rho = -0.785, p = 0.02) and the LAPS subscales, namely proximity (rho = 0.358, p = 0.03), and attachment (rho = 0.392, p = 0.01), were related to taking the pet for a walk. Regarding lifestyle, DO with a healthier lifestyle had a better self-assessment of their health using the SRH (rho = 0.39, p = 0.02). Moreover, DO with better lifestyles also exhibited greater concern for their pet's health (rho = 0.398, p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: This study emphasizes that individuals who adopt healthier habits tend to perceive themselves as healthier and exhibit greater concern for their pets' health. The attachment between DO and dogs is important in promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors and engagement in PA. Our results highlight that the presence of a dog is associated with a higher level of PA in DO, depending on the strength of the human-animal bond.

Many faces of dominance: the manifestation of cohabiting companion dogs' rank in competitive and non-competitive scenarios.

There are indications that companion dogs of multi-dog households form a hierarchy, maintained by formal and agonistic dominance. Although it was found that the behaviour of dogs depends on their rank in several contexts, so far, the assessment of their rank itself has been based on owner-completed questionnaires. With this research we endeavoured to find associations between rank scores from the Dog Rank Assessment Questionnaire (DRA-Q) and cohabiting dogs' behaviour in a competitive test (Toy Possession test-32 dog pairs) and a non-competitive, citizen science scenario (Greeting test-20 dog pairs). Based on the grabbing the toy first and keeping the toy at the end variables, the dogs' rank score provided a reliable indication of the dominant and subordinate dogs' behaviour in the Toy Possession test. Similarly, the occurrence of dominant and submissive behaviours in the Greeting Test showed a good match with the agonistic and leadership subscores of the composite rank score from the DRA-Q. Our results provide a pioneering case for validating a questionnaire-based rank scoring method with biologically meaningful behavioural tests in the case of companion dogs. The finer analysis of the results highlighted that in the case of a multi-question scoring system, some components might provide more effective prediction of the dogs' rank-related behaviour in some situations, while other components are more relevant in others, with traits related to agonistic dominance having relevance across contexts.

Glucocorticoid response to naturalistic interactions between children and dogs.

Although research has shown that pets appear to provide certain types of social support to children, little is known about the physiological bases of these effects, especially in naturalistic contexts. In this study, we investigated the effect of free-form interactions between children (ages 8-10 years) and dogs on salivary cortisol concentrations in both species. We further investigated the role of the child-dog relationship by comparing interactions with the child's pet dog to interactions with an unfamiliar dog or a nonsocial control condition, and modeled associations between survey measures of the human-animal bond and children's physiological responses. In both children and dogs, salivary cortisol decreased from pre- to post-interaction; the effect was strongest for children interacting with an unfamiliar dog (compared to their pet dog) and for the pet dogs (compared to the unfamiliar dog). We found minimal evidence for associations between cortisol output and behaviors coded from video, but children scoring higher on survey measures of the human-animal bond exhibited the greatest reductions in cortisol when interacting with dogs. Self-reported loneliness was not related to cortisol or the human-animal bond, but measures of both loneliness and the human-animal bond were higher among children who participated after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, relative to those who participated before the pandemic. This study builds on previous work that investigated potential stress-buffering effects of human-animal interaction during explicit stressors and demonstrates important physiological correlates of naturalistic interactions between children and dogs, similar to those that occur in daily life.

Impulsivity as a trait in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris): A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Impulsivity is a critical component of dog (Canis familiaris) behavior that owners often want to curtail. Though studies of dog impulsivity have examined their inability to wait and to inhibit inappropriate behaviors, it is not clear whether impulsivity is a behavioral trait with consistent characteristics across contexts. For this project, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate whether impulsivity exists as a behavioral trait in domestic dogs. Under a preregistered protocol, we processed over 10,000 bibliographic database records to uncover 13 articles with multiple impulsivity tasks assessed in the same subjects. Across 31 pairs of impulsivity tasks, 28 failed to detect a correlation in performance between tasks and three detected a correlation. For 15 correlations of impulsivity tasks with the owner's perception of their dog's impulsivity, 10 were not correlated, while five were correlated. A formal meta-analysis on one pair of tasks (A-not-B task and cylinder task) tested across seven different studies showed no overall correlation between the tasks. Our systematic review and meta-analysis found little indication of consistent relationships between impulsivity levels across tasks for dogs. Therefore, at the moment, we do not have good evidence of impulsivity as a behavioral trait that transfers across contexts, suggesting that perhaps we should focus on the context-specific nature of impulsivity in dogs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

'Bowls are boring': Investigating enrichment feeding for pet dogs and the perceived benefits and challenges.

BACKGROUND: Canine enrichment feeding (CEF) is recommended by canine professionals, yet research into its use by dog owners is absent. This study is the first to investigate who uses CEF and the perceived benefits and barriers. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey advertised in July and August 2021 received 1750 usable responses about owner and dog demographics, feeding methods used, canine quality of life and behaviour (Mini-Canine Behavioural Assessment and Research Questionnaire [C-BARQ]). RESULTS: Kongs, chews and activity toys were the most popular forms of CEF. CEF was most often used for a treat, delivering meals and keeping dogs busy. Owners not using CEF were more likely to be male and older. Dogs not fed using CEF were more likely to be older, of working type and have lower exercise needs. Furthermore, they were less likely to show meal interest, dog-directed fear or training difficulties. A common perceived benefit was mental stimulation; however, lack of time was commonly perceived to be a barrier. Certain feeding methods were associated with perceptions of reduced hunger and begging. LIMITATIONS: The survey methodology means there is a risk of selection bias and conclusions cannot be drawn about causation. CONCLUSION: CEF was perceived by most owners to benefit behavioural problems and reduce food seeking. Further research using experimental research designs is required to establish causality.

The influence of interactions with pet dogs on psychological distress.

Many people, including nearly half of American households, own a pet dog. Previous work has found that therapy dog interactions reduce distress, but little work to date has empirically established the mood-enhancing effects of interaction with one's own pet dog. In this study, dog owners (N = 73; 86.3% female, 13.7% male; age 25-77 years) underwent a stress-inducing task followed by random assignment to either (a) interacting with their dog (n = 24), (b) an expectancy control (n = 25; "stress-reducing" coloring books), or (c) a waiting control (n = 24). We compared the effects of each condition on affect and state anxiety. Participants assigned to the dog interaction showed greater increases in positive affect, as well as greater reductions in anxiety compared to both expectancy and waiting controls (ds > 0.72, ps < .018). No significant reductions in negative affect were detected. Second, we found that self-reported experiences with animals, attitudes toward animals, or bondedness with their dog did not differentially predict the condition's impact on the owner's mood. Finally, we coded participants' degree of engagement (e.g., time spent playing) with the dog and found that higher engagement predicted reduced negative affect. Overall, interacting with one's own pet dog reduced owners' distress. Such interactions, which occur commonly in daily life, may have the potential to alleviate distress at a large scale. Precisely how this works and for whom it is especially well suited remain intriguing open questions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

How do veterinarians mitigate liability concerns with workforce shortages?

The challenge of meeting pet healthcare demands with inadequate staff resources creates legal and ethical considerations for the veterinary profession. Inadequate staffing can result in access to care issues that impact companion animal health, public health, and the human animal bond. An overburdened work environment may also result in liability issues related to standard of care, client dissatisfaction, and subsequent complaints. The following recommendations may ameliorate the legal and ethical impacts to include: a focus on how to optimize current resources (human and technology); improve client communications and medical record-keeping strategies; promote preventive care; develop and memorialize clinical standard operating procedures; and prioritize staff well-being to prevent burn out. These recommendations should be considered good practices when functioning under optimal conditions but are even more valuable to implement effectively in an overburdened companion animal medicine environment.

Separation-related Problems and Their Interaction with Physical Disease.

The condition of separation-related problems (SRPs) is common in companion dogs and clinicians should be comfortable diagnosing it. There are numerous diagnoses related to physical disease that have clinical signs similar to SRP, that exacerbate SRP, or may cause regression in treatment of SRP. Common examples include conditions affecting the following systems: musculoskeletal, neurologic, gastrointestinal, and dermatologic. Therefore, it is important for clinicians to rule out causes of physical disease and address them accordingly. The signalment of the patient, medications they are receiving, and other behavioral comorbidities should also be considered.

Dog owner mental health is associated with dog behavioural problems, dog care and dog-facilitated social interaction: a prospective cohort study.

Despite numerous qualitative and cross-sectional studies investigating how dog-related factors may impact owners' well-being, empirical studies to test these causal effects are lacking. This prospective cohort study examined the correlation and potential causal effect of 17 dog-related factors with six well-being outcomes (depression, anxiety, loneliness, suicidal ideation, hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being) in dog owners. Over a four-week period, 709 adult dog owners reported their weekly well-being and occurrence of each dog-related factor (e.g. how many times they ran with their dogs). A random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) with significance threshold set at 0.001 was used. Six factors correlated with poorer owner well-being (i.e. aggressive dog behaviour, fearful dog behaviour, poor dog health, failure to provide for the dog, lack of control over the dog, and dog presence). Only 'friendly conversation with others due to the dog' correlated with better well-being. Purposeful reductions in the frequency of dog behavioural and health-related issues are likely to improve owner well-being, as well as greater consistency in dog care (i.e. provide for the dog) and more engagement in friendly dog-facilitated social interactions. No potential causal effects were significant. Further studies investigating causal relationships are essential to improve people's well-being through dog ownership.

A citizen science model turns anecdotes into evidence by revealing similar characteristics among Gifted Word Learner dogs.

Dogs that have a vocabulary of object labels (Gifted Word Learner dogs-GWL dogs) have great potential as a comparative model for studying a variety of cognitive mechanisms. However, only a handful of studies, with a small sample size of 1 or 2 dogs, have examined this phenomenon. GWL dogs appear to share many of the same distinctive characteristics, but due to their rarity, it is not clear if these similarities are only anecdotal or indeed reflect characteristics that are similar in these rare individuals. Here we present the first study conducted on a relatively large sample of 41 GWL dogs that were recruited and tested using a citizen science model. After testing the dogs' receptive vocabulary of toy names, we asked the owners to complete a questionnaire about their and their dog's life experiences. Our findings highlight several characteristics that are shared among most GWL dogs, such as their learning speed, their large vocabulary, and that they learned the names of the toys spontaneously, without the explicit intent of their owners. Our findings validate previous anecdotal evidence on common characteristics of GWL dogs and supply additional support to the hypothesis that these dogs represent a unique group of dogs.

The impact of pet ownership on healthcare access and utilization among people with HIV.

Though bonds with pets can be health-promoting for people with HIV (PWH), recent studies indicate that owning pets may complicate healthcare access, especially for those with fewer economic resources, poorer social support, and a strong human-animal bond. In this study, we make a case for considering pets to be an important element of the social environment that can influence healthcare access and utilization among PWH. Pet-owning PWH (n = 204) were recruited at healthcare and community sites throughout Florida as part of a larger survey study (the "Florida Cohort"). We developed a 12-item index of pet-related barriers to healthcare, which was designed to assess whether the participants experienced or anticipated any barriers to accessing and/or utilizing timely healthcare or health-related services due to pet caregiving or concerns about pet welfare. We estimated a series of regression models (negative binomial, logistic regression) to assess the effects of comfort from companion animals, human social support, healthcare needs, and sociodemographic characteristics on 1) the total number of pet-related healthcare barriers endorsed, 2) previously experienced pet-related healthcare barriers, and 3) anticipated pet-related healthcare barriers. Thirty-six percent of the sample reported at least one experienced or anticipated pet-related barrier to their healthcare; 17% reported previous healthcare barriers and 31% anticipated future healthcare barriers. Greater comfort from companion animals, greater healthcare needs, and poorer social support were associated with a greater probability of experiencing or anticipating any pet-related healthcare barriers. Those who identified racially as Black were less likely to anticipate future healthcare barriers than those who were White. Income was associated with pet-related healthcare barriers in all models. Given the importance of health maintenance for PWH and previous research suggesting pets may be an important emotional support for this population, social safety net programs and community partnerships that support multispecies families are strongly recommended.

CATastrophic myths part 1: Common misconceptions about the social behavior of domestic cats and implications for their health, welfare, and management.

Cats are among the most popular pets worldwide, but there are still major gaps in the public's general understanding of their social behaviors and related needs, including for socialization. In addition to these knowledge gaps, people often have negative or ambivalent attitudes about cats, which can directly impact their welfare outcomes. Insufficient attention to the behavioral ecology and development of cat sociality, along with failure to account for their highly variable individual preferences and tolerance for social behaviors can lead them to experience distress that undermines both their welfare and the human-animal bond. As Part 1 of a two-part series addressing common myths about cats, the purpose of this first paper is to review and debunk common misperceptions about the social needs and behaviors of cats, including misunderstandings about their social lives and abilities to bond with humans. We also identify where opportunities exist to improve socialization of cats and to advance research in related areas that might better support their behavior and welfare needs.

Owner-implemented paired-stimulus food preference assessments for companion dogs.

Behavioral interventions for animals typically require the inclusion of programmed reinforcers. Although pet owners and human caregivers can often identify items that the animal will consume, preference assessments can more accurately determine relative preference rankings between various stimuli, which is important given that higher preferred items tend to function as more effective reinforcers than lower preferred items. Preference assessments have been developed to identify rankings for a variety of stimuli across species, including the domesticated dog (Canis lupus familiaris). However, previous preference assessments for dogs were developed for laboratory use and could be challenging for dog owners to perform alone. The purpose of this study was to modify existing dog preference assessment methods to produce a valid and feasible preference assessment for dog owners. Results suggest that the preference assessment identified preference rankings for individual dogs. Owners were able to implement the protocol with high integrity and found the protocol acceptable.