The relevance of affiliative relationships in horses: review and future directions

For many years, studies on horse social behaviour focused mainly on social organization, dominance and aggression. There are comparatively fewer studies on affiliative relationships among horses, despite their impact on the stability of social groups, reproductive success and welfare. We believe that it is important to gain a more complete understanding of this dimension of horse social behaviour and to identify areas of research which need to be addressed in more detail.This review summarizes the existing body of scientific knowledge on affiliative relationships among horses. Studies were conducted on a large variety of horse populations and environmental conditions, from feral to domestic horses under different management conditions. Moreover, studies conducted to date used different methodologies for data collection and analysis which make meaningful comparisons of their results more difficult. We present their main findings concerning the importance of affiliative relationships for horses and the individual and social factors associated with these relationships. Furthermore, we discuss the implications of these findings for management of domestic horses and propose avenues for future studies. We hope this review stimulates further research in this area and may contribute scientific knowledge to improve husbandry practices and horse welfare.

Food Preference Predicts Speed of Approach on a Runway Task by Dogs

The effective and quick assessment of food preference is important when attempting to identify foods that might function as effective reinforcers in dogs. In the current experiment a food preference assessment was conducted where more highly preferred foods were expected to be associated with faster approaches in a subsequent runway task. Eight dogs were tested in a paired preference assessment offering combinations of two of six types of raw food, including the dog’s staple diet, to identify a rank order of preference for the foods. A different raw food was offered as the staple in two preference tests. The results showed that the staple foods were not preferred as highly as the other foods and that each dog displayed unique and stable preferences for the different foods. In the runway task the dogs were required to walk five metres to obtain a small amount of their most preferred, least preferred or staple foods and latency of approach to the foods was recorded. The approach latencies were faster for their most preferred food compared to their least preferred and the staple foods. The use of a runway to assess reinforcer effectiveness combined an effortful behaviour to obtain food while also requiring the dogs to make a choice, thus precluding the need for more complicated and time-consuming methods of preference assessment. The application of this method for fast and effective identification of preferred reinforcers is currently being investigating further to inform pet owners of simple methods to increase their training successes. Owners of raw food fed dogs are advised to conduct a preference assessment to identify their dogs most preferred food for use as a reinforcer during training.

How old are (Pet) Dog Breeds?

Dogs are our Pets. Everybody knows dog breeds. A dog is often understood only as a specimen of a breed or a mongrel of several breeds. Some scholars argue, that dog breeds would be created as an artificial product starting 150 years ago in the Victorian era. The original dog would be an uniform dog type called “village dog”, hanging around human settlements while scavenging human waste and faeces. Astonishingly we only find very little research on evolution and history of dog breeds and dog breeding. In our article we will search for evidence. We found many records in history, archaeology and genetics pointing out that dog breeds have a long history likely starting in prehistoric times or at least in antiquity. Dog breeds shape no static monuments over thousands of years. We should understand dog breeds as steadily evolving populations in changing ecologies - like each species. Dogs’ ecological niches were made primarily by human. We are able to identify and clearly differ dogs in breeds, each breed fitting to its special niches. We are using dogs’ different traits since thousands of years. Dogs always had and have their jobs as hunting-, herding-, sledding-partners or as pets. Thus, dogs have been shaped to fit optimally to each job. Eventually, they evolved with their changing jobs in continually evolving human societies. Breeds have not been simply invented. Breeds did not derive artificially during some decades in the Victorian era. Victorian dog breeding culture only switched the focus from the behaviour to the appearance and that mainly with regard to fashion dogs. Even standardized modern purebred dogs on the official shows are continuously changing their traits and appearance following human fashions. Dog breeds may be understood as a reflection of human culture. Understanding the history of dog breeds is helpful for a better understanding of our dogs, the human-dog bonding and ourselves.

Marking frequency during intraspecific socialization sessions is related to urinary cortisol levels in shelter dogs

The aim of this study was to determine whether behavioural indicators such as marking frequency and whether cortisol/creatinine ratio (C/Cr) are influenced by three socialization sessions.

Cannabidiol as a potential anti-epileptic dietary supplement in dogs with suspected epilepsy: three case reports

Epilepsy is the most common chronic neurological disorder in dogs and the almost lifelong administration of anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) is recognized as the most successful treatment in veterinary medicine. Current pharmacological therapies for epilepsy have shown undesirable side effects. The dietary use of cannabidiol (CBD) in humans has shown therapeutic potential for the treatment of epileptic seizures. We administered CBD for 8 weeks to three dogs with epileptic seizures; decrease in the seizure interval was observed in two dogs, while one dog showed no improvement. Regarding the owners’ impressions, one reported considerable symptom improvement, one that the symptoms improved, and one that the symptoms remained unchanged.

Proposal of a customized animal welfare protocol for military kennels

The guarantee of animal welfare has been modernly approached in both physical and emotional aspects. The objective of this work was to propose a management protocol that maximizes animal welfare for working dogs, and that takes into account the particularities of Brazilian military institutions, so being able to be implemented more easily. A literature search was conducted and a task force was created to inform the project. After the review, meetings and discussions, the writing of the protocol was finalized. It is divided into eight theoretical and practical prompts, sometimes exemplified. The proposed protocol covers the theoretical proposals on animal welfare found in the literature, in addition to respecting the characteristics and peculiarities of the institutions and military routines in question, which would theoretically facilitate their implementation. After consolidating this proposal, new studies are needed to validate the protocol through its implementation.

Validation of a qualitative behaviour score during the capture phase of stray dogs

There are no studies on the capture phase of stray dogs, although this can be very stressful and have a significant impact on dogs’ welfare. In this preliminary study, we propose a simple qualitative evaluation system of the dog’s behaviour during the capture phase. The assessments of the Animal Control Officers (ACO) were compared with qualitative and quantitative evaluations carried out by two Testers to verify their reliability and validity. The agreements and correlation analysis showed that the qualitative score of the Testers was reliable and valid. Conversely, the scores attributed by the ACO were not in agreement and not consistent with the behavioural observations of the Testers. These results suggest that the ACO did not have the necessary familiarity with behavioural assessments. It should also be considered that the Testers made their observations in a different context, and the dog can react differently to different stressors according to his personality and past experiences. In conclusion, the qualitative assessments during the capture phase require implementations and further investigations.

Heart rate, heart rate variability and salivary cortisol as indicators of arousal and synchrony in clients with intellectual disability, horses and therapist during equine-assisted interventions

The aim of the study was to analyse interaction processes in equine-assisted therapy (EAT) sessions with ten female clients in the period of emerging adulthood with intellectual disability (ID). Heart rate (HR), heart rate variability and salivary cortisol levels have been analysed in humans and horses before, during and after a standardised therapy session as well as in a control condition. There was a trend of lower cortisol levels and higher variability and parasympathetic tone induced by horses. During challenge however, there was a significant lower HR in the horse condition. Significant correlations in heart rate between therapist, client and horse were found with stronger interaction with a familiar horse. Our findings suggest that EAT may effectively modulate stress in humans with ID. Our results further elucidate synchronisation patterns in HR highlighting the pivotal role of relationship quality and intensity as modulators of synchrony.

impact of therapy dog visits on outpatient nurse welfare and job satisfaction

Interaction with a therapy dog can decrease blood pressure, heart rate, and improve heart rate variability; due to these responses, it suggests that human-animal interaction can alleviate the stress response. This study aims to observe if the effects of therapy dog visits could alleviate nursing burnout and increase work satisfaction in an outpatient setting. In addition, this study will observe at what visit frequency of therapy dog visits nurses benefited from most. This study is a two-part study, which also observed the salivary cortisol concentrations of the therapy dogs post therapy visit interaction. The study design was a randomized block design with five treatments over the course of four weeks: TRT A, two therapy dog visits a week; TRT B, one visit a week; TRT C, two visits; TRT D, one visit; and TRT E, no visits. Four out-patient nursing units were selected and asked to complete a demographic survey, the Pet Attitude Scale-Modified, and Lexington Attachment to Pet Scale. Pre- and post-treatments, participants completed the Human Services Survey, Nursing Workplace Satisfaction Questionnaire, Nursing Work Index (Revised), and a visual analog scale. TRT A was able to significantly increase the feeling of happiness. In addition TRT B, a therapy dog visit once a week, was able to significantly reduce self-reported responses of depression and improve emotional wellbeing. Consequently, TRT E, control/no therapy dog visits, had the least amount of improvement in the nursing units’ visual analog scale. This study supports the hypothesis that therapy dog visits can help alleviate stress, frustration, feeling drained, and the overwhelming sensation that can come from working in the nursing field.

Biomedical Scent Detection Dogs: Would They Pass as a Health Technology?

Biomedical scent detection dogs identify the scent profiles of diseases, such as cancer, diabetes or pathogenic micro-organisms. What the field of biomedical scent detection has been lacking, however, is the assessment of the method from the point of view of a health technology. All health technologies undergo a thorough evaluation of safety, clinical effectiveness and costs, as well as ethical, social, organizational and legal evaluations in some cases. Passing these regulatory controls is a pre-requisite before a technology is approved for use in decision-making about patient outcomes. Biomedical scent detection has a lot of attractive qualities, such as the sensitivity and specificity of the dogs’ noses, safety and relative cost-effectiveness. But the method also has various challenges, in particular regarding its clinical effectiveness. The most pertinent issues to address before the dogs would pass as a health technology are standardization the training techniques, both intra- and inter-dog reproducibility, and generalization of the detection task to early stages of disease progression. We suggest setting realistic goals in terms of what the dogs can and cannot do and a collaborative approach between clinicians and animal psychophysicists.