Validity and reliability of cardiac measures during behavioural tests in pet dogs at home

Neuroendocrine and Cardiovascular Activation During Aggressive Reactivity in Dogs

Our aim was to investigate cardiovascular activation by measuring changes in facial and body surface temperature using infrared thermography, and neuroendocrine activation using salivary cortisol (CORT) and serotonin concentration (SER) in dogs exhibiting aggressive reactivity in real time. Based on two factors, owner-reported past aggressive behaviors, and detailed behavioral observations collected during a Socially Acceptable Behavior test consisting of 16 subtests and, each individual was categorized as aggressive or non-aggressive. CORT and SER showed no difference in neuroendocrine activity between dogs, but aggressive dogs with higher levels of aggression were found to have lower SER. Aggressive dogs also had an increase in facial temperature from pre-test values. The discovery of a correlation between tail wagging and left tail wagging with aggression level and aggression-related behaviors in aggressive dogs is further evidence of the right hemisphere specialization for aggression previously reported in the literature. This study provides the first evidence that both cardiovascular and neuroendocrine systems are activated during an active act of aggression in dogs.

The Untrained Response of Pet Dogs to Human Epileptic Seizures

Epilepsy is a debilitating and potentially life-threatening neurological condition which affects approximately 65 million people worldwide. There is currently no reliable and simple early warning seizure-onset device available, which means many people with unstable epilepsy live in fear of injury or sudden death and the negative impact of social stigmatization. If anecdotal claims that untrained dogs anticipate seizures are found to be true, they could offer a simple and readily available early warning system. We hypothesized that, given the extraordinary olfactory ability of dogs, a volatile organic compound exhaled by the dog's epileptic owner may constitute an early warning trigger mechanism to which make dogs react by owner-directed affiliative responses in the pre-seizure period. Using 19 pet dogs with no experience of epilepsy, we exposed them to odours that were deemed to be characteristic of three seizure phases, by using sweat harvested from people with epilepsy. The odours were delivered to a point immediately under a non-epileptic and seated pet dog owner's thighs. By altering the alternating odours emerging from sweat samples, captured before seizure, during a seizure and after a seizure, and two nonseizure controls, we were able to record the response of the 19 pet dogs. Our findings suggest that seizures are associated with an odour and that dogs detect this odour and demonstrate a marked increase in affiliative behaviour directed at their owners. A characteristic response of all 19 dogs to seizure odour presentation was an intense stare which was statistically significant, (p < 0.0029), across the pre-seizure, seizure and post-seizure phases when compared to control odours of nonseizure origin.

Where Do We Stand in the Domestic Dog ( Canis familiaris ) Positive-Emotion Assessment: A State-of-the-Art Review and Future Directions

Although there have been a growing number of studies focusing on dog welfare, the research field concerning dog positive-emotion assessment remains mostly unexplored. This paper aims to provide a state-of-the-art review and summary of the scattered and disperse research on dog positive-emotion assessment. The review notably details the current advancement in dog positive-emotion research, what approaches, measures, methods, and techniques have been implemented so far in emotion perception, processing, and response assessment. Moreover, we propose possible future research directions for short-term emotion as well as longer-term emotional states assessment in dogs. The review ends by identifying and addressing some methodological limitations and by pointing out further methodological research needs.