- The behaviour of
laboratory colony cats and their reactions to a
familiar and unfamiliar person
- A. L. Podberscek, J. K. Blackshaw and A. W.
Beattie
-
- Department of Farm
Animal Medicine and Production, The University
of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld. 4072,
Australia
- Applied Animal Behaviour Science
1991;31(1-2):119-130
-
- Abstract
- The behaviour of a colony of eight
laboratory cats and their reactions to a
familiar and unfamiliar person were recorded and
analysed. Seven of the cats were Domestic
Shorthairs and one was a Persian. All were male
and only one was intact.
- Maintenance behaviours (resting, sitting,
drinking, eating, defaecating and urinating)
were the most commonly observed behaviours (36%
of observations). Comfort (grooming, scratching,
sneezing, coughing, head shaking, stretching
and yawning) and locomotory behaviours
(walking, running, jumping from floor to shelf
and shelf to floor) were also commonly observed
(30% and 24.5%, respectively). Agonistic
behaviours were rarely observed (1%). Other
behaviours recorded included marking and
investigatory (clawing, scratching post, rubbing
cage, anal sniff, body sniff, wall/floor
licking; 4%), play (2%) and vocalisation
behaviours (2%).
-
- Walking, jumping, eating, drinking,
scratching, rubbing, defaecating and urinating
were observed most often between 08:00 h and
09:00 h. Running, walking, resting and sitting
occurred most often on the shelves in the
cage.
-
- The cats made more direct contacts with the
unfamiliar person than with the familiar person.
Significantly (P<0.01) more attention
behaviours (rubs against person, claws person,
stands and watches, jumps to floor, stretches
head out to person, lies on floor near person)
were observed on the first day of the human-cat
study than on the second and third days for both
the familiar and unfamiliar person.
-
Behavioural, saliva
cortisol and heart rate responses to different
types of stimuli in dogs
- Bonne Beerda, Matthijs B. H. Schilder, Jan
A. R. A. M. van Hooff, Hans W. de Vries and Jan
A. Mol
-
- a Department of Clinical
Sciences of Companion Animals, Utrecht
University, Utrecht, Netherlands
- b Department of Ethology and
Socio-Ecology, Utrecht University, PO Box
80.086, 3508 TB Utrecht, Netherlands
- Applied Animal Behaviour Science
1998;58(3-4):365-381
-
- Abstract
- Stress parameters that can be measured
noninvasively may help to identify poor welfare
in dogs that live in private homes and
institutions. Behavioural parameters are
potentially useful to identify stress, but
require further investigation to establish which
behaviours are appropriate. In the present
study, behaviours were recorded and analysed for
signs of acute stress in dogs. Simultaneously,
saliva cortisol and heart rate were measured to
support the interpretation of the behavioural
data with regard to stress.
-
- Ten dogs of either sex, different ages and
various breeds were each subjected to six
different stimuli: sound blasts, short electric
shocks, a falling bag, an opening umbrella and
two forms of restraint. Each type of stimulus
had been selected for its assumed aversive
properties and was administered intermittently
for 1 min. The stimuli that could not be
anticipated by the dogs, sound blasts, shocks
and a falling bag, tended to induce saliva
cortisol responses and a very low posture. The
remainder of the stimuli, which were
administered by the experimenter visibly to the
dog, did not change the cortisol levels but did
induce restlessness, a moderate lowering of the
posture, body shaking, oral behaviours, and to a
lesser extent, yawning and open
mouth.
-
- Pronounced increases in the heart rate were
nonspecifically induced by each type of
stimulus. Heart rate levels normalized within 8
min after stressor administration had stopped.
Saliva cortisol levels decreased to normal
within the hour. Correlations between
behavioural and physiological stress parameters
were not significant. From the present results,
we conclude that in dogs a very low posture may
indicate intense acute stress since dogs show a
very low posture concomitant with saliva
cortisol responses. Dogs may typically show
increased restlessness, oral behaviours,
yawning, open mouth and a moderate
lowering of the posture when they experienced
moderate stress in a social setting. The
nonspecific character of canine heart rate
responses complicates its interpretation with
regard to acute stress.
-
Evaluation of the
effects of a socialization program in a prison
on behavior and pituitary&endash;adrenal hormone
levels of shelter dogs
- Michael B. Hennessy, Angela Morris and Fran
Linden
-
- aDepartment of Psychology,
335 Fawcett Hall, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway,
Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435,
USA
- bPet Behavior and Training
Services, Dayton, OH 45410, USA
- Applied Animal Behaviour Science
2006;99(1-2):157-171
-
- Abstract
- This study examined outcomes of an ongoing
socialization program for shelter dogs conducted
at a local prison. Dogs residing at a Humane
Society facility were assigned to either a
"Control" or "Socialization" treatment. Dogs
assigned to both treatments were administered a
pretest at the Humane Society consisting of
blood withdrawal for hormone analysis,
assessment of responses to commands, and
observation of behavior in a novel situation.
Dogs assigned to the Socialization treatment
were then transported to the prison where they
lived with, and were trained by, inmate
handlers. Dogs in the Control treatment remained
at the Humane Society and received no explicit
training. Three weeks later, dogs were
administered a posttest identical in form to the
pretest. Dogs provided the Socialization, but
not Control, treatment exhibited significant
improvement from pretest to posttest in
compliance with commands. In a novel situation,
Socialization dogs showed significantly less
jumping on an unfamiliar human and vocalizing,
and significantly more yawning, in the
posttest relative to the pretest than did
Control dogs. Whereas plasma cortisol levels did
not vary from pretest to posttest in either
group, ACTH levels unexpectedly increased with
time in both groups. Moreover, cortisol and ACTH
levels were significantly positively correlated
with each other at the posttest, but not the
pretest. These results provide evidence for
positive behavioral outcomes of prison
socialization programs for shelter dogs, as well
as further support for the notion that shelter
housing results in a dysregulation of the
hypothalamic&endash;pituitary&endash;adrenal
axis.
-
-
Le
bâillement chez le chien - Yawning in
dogs. Nathalie Tomczyk 2009
-
- Teaching Dogs to
Yawn, Sneeze, and Implications for Preparedness
Theory and Observational Learning
- JR. Perkins
-
- Coping with fear
and stress: licking and yawning
- SR. Lindsay
- Handbook of applied dog
behavior and training
2000
-
- Behavioural,
saliva cortisol and heart rate responses to
different types of stimuli in dogs
- Bonne Beerda, Matthijs B. H. Schilder, Jan
A. R. A. M. van Hooff, Hans W. de Vries and Jan
A. Mol
- Applied Animal Behaviour
Science 1998;58(3-4):365-381.
-
- Puppy behaviours
when left home alone: a pilot study
- Diane Frank, Michela Minero, Simona Cannas,
Clara Palestrini
- Applied Animal Behaviour
Science 2007;104(1-2):61-70.
-
- Evaluation of
the effects of a socialization program in a
prison on behavior and pituitary&endash;adrenal
hormone levels of shelter dogs
- Michael B. Hennessy, Angela Morris and Fran
Linden
- Applied Animal Behaviour
Science 2006;99(1-2):157-17
-
- Dogs
catch human yawns
- Joly-Mascheroni RM, Senju A, Sheperd AJ
- Biology
letters Animal
Behaviour
2008;4(5):446-448
-
- Adapting
to the human world: Dogs' responsiveness to our
social cues
- Reid PJ.
- Behavioural Processes
2008;80(3)325-333.
-
- Comprehension
of human pointing gestures in young human-reared
wolves (Canis lupus) and dogs (Canis
familiaris)
- Virányi Z, Gácsi M, Kubinyi E,
et al.
- Anim Cogn
2008;11(3):373-387
-
- Human-like
social skills in dogs?
- Hare B, Tomasello M.
- Trends Cogn Sci
2005;9(9):439-444
-
- The
domestication of social cognition in
dogs
- Hare B, Brown M, Williamson C, et al
- Science
2002;298(5598):1634-1636
-
- Mouths wide open:
yawning as a communicative behavior in dogs.
Hoff AE 2001
-
- Assessment
of Stress in Laboratory Beagle Dogs Constrained
by a Pavlov Sling
- Stracke J, Bert B, Fink H, Böhner
J.
- Altex. 2011;28(4):317-325
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