Environmental ethics is often described on a continuum of anthropocentrism to biocentrism. Pet ownership has been shown to correlate with biocentrism. This study aims to answer how strong the correlation is between pet ownership and biocentrism and how pet owners…
Environmental ethics is often described on a continuum of anthropocentrism to biocentrism. Pet ownership has been shown to correlate with biocentrism. This study aims to answer how strong the correlation is between pet ownership and biocentrism and how pet owners react when pets' needs conflict with the environment. Findings from the study confirm previous research that pet owners lean biocentric, but their biocentric beliefs end when their pet's well-being misaligns with environmental concerns.
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This study investigated attachment styles as they apply to dog and dog-owner dyads. While the study was inconclusive, it examined how the four attachment styles (secure, preoccupied, dismissive, fearful-avoidant) can be measured in dogs and how attachment styles can be…
This study investigated attachment styles as they apply to dog and dog-owner dyads. While the study was inconclusive, it examined how the four attachment styles (secure, preoccupied, dismissive, fearful-avoidant) can be measured in dogs and how attachment styles can be measured in dog and dog-owner dyads as opposed to studying each side of the relationship individually.
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Animal shelters can be stress-inducing environments for dogs because of the noise, social isolation and unpredictable housing (Hennessy et al., 2020). Dog enthusiasts and researchers alike have found that social interaction can help alleviate stress in dogs. The aim of…
Animal shelters can be stress-inducing environments for dogs because of the noise, social isolation and unpredictable housing (Hennessy et al., 2020). Dog enthusiasts and researchers alike have found that social interaction can help alleviate stress in dogs. The aim of this study was to understand dogs’ interaction preferences to improve their welfare in animal shelters. We hypothesized that there would be statistically significant differences between both the time dogs spent in dog-dog and dog-human interactions. The dogs’ interaction preferences were operationalized as the percentage of their play time they spent in dog-dog, dog-human and dog-environment interactions. A total of twelve dogs from the Animal Humane Society (AHS) in Golden Valley, Minnesota shelter participated as subjects in the study. The study ran for two weeks, and there were 2 sessions of 15 minute playgroups recorded at 9:00 AM, 11:40 AM and 2:20 PM. Each playgroup consisted of two to four dogs. We found statistically significant differences between the percentage of each dog’s individual time they spent in dog-human interactions, which is supported by the literature. Differences between the percentage of each dog’s time in dog-dog interactions were nearly, but not quite statistically significant. Further research is needed to determine if age, size and breed contribute to the dog’s interaction preferences. More research is also needed to determine whether individual differences in preference for dog-dog interaction exist between dogs, and how this knowledge can be applied to improve dogs’ welfare in shelters. Our research suggests that shelters should continue to provide dogs with play time to interact with humans, as it is helpful in alleviating the impact of environmental stressors.
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Personality testing in dogs has become a controversial topic in the dog community in the last few years. These assessments have been used among owners, shelters, working dog trainers, breeders, and researchers to identify patterns of behavior that may lead…
Personality testing in dogs has become a controversial topic in the dog community in the last few years. These assessments have been used among owners, shelters, working dog trainers, breeders, and researchers to identify patterns of behavior that may lead to insight about a dog’s personality. Due to inconsistencies in terminology and validity testing, these personality tests have lost a notable amount of credibility. Focusing on questionnaire and behavioral based testing, this literature review aims to evaluate the significance of personality testing within the dog community. Each assessment will be analyzed for measurements and validity, as well as potential drawbacks and benefits. Four prominent personality assessments will be discussed in depth. These assessments include C-BARQ, DPQ, SAFER, and VIDOPET. I advocate for a mixed assessment model approach and highlight the benefits of expanding personality testing into genetic research.
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Animal shelters are stressful environments for dogs and a plethora of research has been conducted on interventions aimed at improving the welfare of these animals. One type of intervention is social interaction, either between dogs and people or dogs and…
Animal shelters are stressful environments for dogs and a plethora of research has been conducted on interventions aimed at improving the welfare of these animals. One type of intervention is social interaction, either between dogs and people or dogs and conspecifics. To investigate the types of social interaction dogs engage in and the impact of that contact on their welfare, 12 dogs were enrolled to participate in group sessions with other dogs, supervised by staff, in a shelter setting. There were three, 15-minute sessions per day across three days in which groups of two to four dogs were observed and recorded on video. These videos were then analyzed per dog for three types of interactions: dog-dog, dog-human, and dog-environment. It was found that the dogs spent significantly more time engaging with the staff members in the room than with conspecifics or the environment. Physiological measurements, including cortisol and S-IgA levels, were taken using urinary and fecal samples obtained both in the morning prior to these interaction sessions and after the final interaction of the day. No significant correlations were found between the amount of time that the dogs spent in each type of interaction and dogs’ cortisol or S-IgA levels. However, smaller statistical effects suggest that human interaction may correspond with decreased stress the day after interaction while conspecific interaction may be related to increases in stress the following day. Overall, these findings suggest that social interaction, particularly with people, may be beneficial, and should be further explored as a method to enhance the well-being of shelter dogs.
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A handheld metal noisemaker known as a “clicker” is widely used to train new behaviors in dogs; however, evidence for the superior efficacy of clickers as opposed to providing solely primary reinforcement or other secondary reinforcers in the acquisition of…
A handheld metal noisemaker known as a “clicker” is widely used to train new behaviors in dogs; however, evidence for the superior efficacy of clickers as opposed to providing solely primary reinforcement or other secondary reinforcers in the acquisition of novel behavior in dogs is almost entirely anecdotal. Three experiments were conducted to determine under what circumstances a clicker may result in acquisition of a novel behavior more rapidly or to a higher level compared to other readily available reinforcement methods. In Experiment 1, three groups of 30 dogs each were trained to emit a novel sit and stay behavior of increasing duration with either the delivery of food alone, a verbal stimulus paired with food, or a clicker with food. The group that received only a primary reinforcer reached a significantly higher criterion of training success than the group trained with a verbal secondary reinforcer. Performance of the group experiencing a clicker secondary reinforcer was intermediate between the other two groups, but not significantly different from either. In Experiment 2, three different groups of 25 dogs each were shaped to emit a nose targeting behavior and then perform that behavior at increasing distances from the experimenter using the same three methods of positive reinforcement as in Experiment 1. No statistically significant differences between the groups were found. In Experiment 3, three groups of 30 dogs each were shaped to emit a nose-targeting behavior upon an array of wooden blocks with task difficulty increasing throughout testing using the same three methods of positive reinforcement as previously. No statistically significant differences between the groups were found. Overall, the findings suggest that both clickers and other forms of positive reinforcement can be used successfully in training a dog to perform a novel behavior, but that no positive reinforcement method has significantly greater efficacy than any other.
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Opioid use rates and related deaths continue to be a public health crisis; while there are many contributing factors to opioid use disorders, criteria for diagnosis include problems related to social functioning. Previous research indicates that laboratory rats, which are…
Opioid use rates and related deaths continue to be a public health crisis; while there are many contributing factors to opioid use disorders, criteria for diagnosis include problems related to social functioning. Previous research indicates that laboratory rats, which are frequently used as animal models of addiction-related behaviors, are capable of prosocial behavior. The following collection of studies were performed to determine the effects of heroin on prosocial behavior in rats, as well as the role of the insula in both self-administration of heroin and prosocial behaviors. All of the experiments were conducted utilizing an established model of prosocial behavior in rats in which a performing rat releases a cagemate from a restrainer. The occurrence of and latency to free the confined rat was recorded. After baseline rescuing behavior was established, rats were allowed to self-administer heroin (0.06 mg/kg/infusion i.v.), and subsequent experimental conditions were imposed.
Experimental conditions, in a series of different studies, included comparing heroin reinforcers with sucrose, chemogenetically modulating the insular cortex (both stimulatory and inhibitory processes) and administering excitotoxic lesions in the insula. There were significant differences in saving behaviors between heroin and sucrose groups demonstrating an opioid induced loss of prosocial behavior. Modulating the insula chemogenetically resulted in some restoration of these opioid related deficits, and insular lesions did not significantly impact prosocial behaviors, however, there were significant differences between rates of heroin intake in lesioned animals versus non-lesioned controls. Taken together, these results demonstrate the deleterious effects of heroin on prosocial behaviors and offer further support for the role of the insula in both addiction and social constructs.
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Extensive research on the human mother-child relationship has led to the investigation of how relationships between dogs (Canis lupus var. familiaris) and humans compare. Studies suggest that dogs share a strong affectional bond with their owners and if put under…
Extensive research on the human mother-child relationship has led to the investigation of how relationships between dogs (Canis lupus var. familiaris) and humans compare. Studies suggest that dogs share a strong affectional bond with their owners and if put under stressful situations, exhibit key characteristics of attachment also observed in human babies. The goal of this review is to assess a variety of studies that explore different ways of measuring attachment between dogs and humans, beginning with a discussion of the Ainsworth Strange Situation Test (SST). The SST provides a foundation for the first studies that introduced attachment to the canine science field. It also aids in linking numerous attachment studies that look into different factors like the ages and physiology of the dogs, varying degrees of familiar people interacting with the dogs, owner-reported attitudes and behaviors, and the connection to wolves’ attachments with humans. I propose ways in which this particular scientific field can be enhanced and place a heavy emphasis on the implications of studying attachment particularly in shelter dogs. Synthesis and evaluation of the significant research on dog-human connections will not only lead to ways of fostering better relationships between owners and their dogs, but also allows us to better appreciate the special bond we have with dogs that lets us learn more every day.
Animal assisted activities and therapy have demonstrated efficacy but the question remains of whether the animals themselves are the mechanism of change or if other factors mediate this relationship. We investigated novelty and touch as mediators between therapy dogs and…
Animal assisted activities and therapy have demonstrated efficacy but the question remains of whether the animals themselves are the mechanism of change or if other factors mediate this relationship. We investigated novelty and touch as mediators between therapy dogs and stress reduction as no other study has done both. Additionally, we were interested in whether the belief that a treatment is relaxing or simply providing a break acted as mediators. We explored these relationships using three conditions: therapy dog interaction, massage, and no-treatment control. Interacting with a therapy dog is similar to receiving a massage in each of the mediators of interest. Thus, should the therapy dogs outperform the massage in relieving stress, it suggests something there is something unique about the dogs themselves, beyond the mediators held constant for both the therapy dog and massage condition. We included the no-treatment control to determine whether treatment at all was effective in reducing stress. We tested 40 participants aged 18 to 43 years old over the course of three days. Participants were measured pre-treatment using two self-report surveys of stress, the Stress Overload Scale- Short (SOS-S) and the Stress Appraisal Measure (SAM) as well as a physiological indicator of stress, heart rate variability (HRV) measured by the Scosche Rhythm24 Waterproof Armband Heart Rate Monitor. Participants were randomly assigned to a condition for seven minutes. Afterwards, all measures were readministered. We found no significant interaction of time on condition nor any main effect of condition on any of the measures. However, we found significant main effects of time on both subscales of the SOS-S and the threat, centrality, controllable-by-others, and stressfulness subscales of the SAM. We are unable to determine whether there is a unique benefit of therapy dogs themselves but overall, the event was effective in reducing stress as reported by the participants. We recommend continued investigation of mediators in animal assisted activities and therapy.
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Temporal bisection is a common procedure for the study of interval timing in humans and non-human animals, in which participants are trained to discriminate between a “short” and a “long” interval of time. Following stable and accurate discrimination, unreinforced probe…
Temporal bisection is a common procedure for the study of interval timing in humans and non-human animals, in which participants are trained to discriminate between a “short” and a “long” interval of time. Following stable and accurate discrimination, unreinforced probe intervals between the two values are tested. In temporal bisection studies, intermediate non-reinforced probe intervals are typically arithmetically- or geometrically- spaced, yielding point of subjective equality at the arithmetic and geometric mean of the trained anchor intervals. Brown et al. (2005) suggest that judgement of the length of an interval, even when not reinforced, is influenced by its subjective length in comparison to that of other intervals. This hypothesis predicts that skewing the distribution of probe intervals shifts the psychophysical function relating interval length to the probability of reporting that interval as “long.” Data from the present temporal bisection study, using rats, suggest that there may be a within-session shift in temporal bisection responding which accounts for observed shifts in the psychophysical functions, and that this may also influence how rats categorize ambiguous intervals.
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