Digitally-enhanced dog behavioral testing.

Behavioral traits in dogs are assessed for a wide range of purposes such as determining selection for breeding, chance of being adopted or prediction of working aptitude. Most methods for assessing behavioral traits are questionnaire or observation-based, requiring significant amounts of time, effort and expertise. In addition, these methods might be also susceptible to subjectivity and bias, negatively impacting their reliability. In this study, we proposed an automated computational approach that may provide a more objective, robust and resource-efficient alternative to current solutions. Using part of a 'Stranger Test' protocol, we tested n = 53 dogs for their response to the presence and neutral actions of a stranger. Dog coping styles were scored by three dog behavior experts. Moreover, data were collected from their owners/trainers using the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ). An unsupervised clustering of the dogs' trajectories revealed two main clusters showing a significant difference in the stranger-directed fear C-BARQ category, as well as a good separation between (sufficiently) relaxed dogs and dogs with excessive behaviors towards strangers based on expert scoring. Based on the clustering, we obtained a machine learning classifier for expert scoring of coping styles towards strangers, which reached an accuracy of 78%. We also obtained a regression model predicting C-BARQ scores with varying performance, the best being Owner-Directed Aggression (with a mean average error of 0.108) and Excitability (with a mean square error of 0.032). This case study demonstrates a novel paradigm of 'machine-based' dog behavioral assessment, highlighting the value and great promise of AI in this context.

Pets and their owners during the first COVID-19 lockdown period: Perceived changes in routines and emotions - An exploratory study.

An international online questionnaire Pets in Lockdown was conducted during the first COVID-19 lockdown during the months of April and May 2020 to assess how pet owners perceived some aspects of their relationship with their pets, including time spent together and how much they enjoyed it, difficulties taking care of their pets, the amount of comfort they obtained from interacting with their pets, and whether they had observed any changes in their pets' resting time and behavior. Most pet owners did not describe any changes in the relationship with their pets or in their pets' behaviour. Horse owners expressed more difficulties taking care of their animals than owners of other species. Approximately 20% of the animals had less time available to rest undisturbed. Of the animals that displayed behavioral changes, remaining closer to the owner was the most frequently described change followed by descriptions of higher arousal and increased negative affective states.

Pet ownership, feelings of loneliness, and mood in people affected by the first COVID-19 lockdown.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused dramatic changes to our lifestyle, particularly affecting our ability to interact "in person" with our social network. These changes have had a detrimental effect on the mental welfare of the global population. The international questionnaire "Pets in Lockdown" was designed to investigate whether feelings of loneliness were affecting the mood of people during the COVID-19 lockdown and whether pet ownership may have had a positive influence on both loneliness and general mood. As expected, higher loneliness scores were associated with higher negative and lower positive affective states. In addition, lower loneliness scores were associated with pet ownership and living with other people, but not with more frequent interactions with people from outside the household, suggesting that physical and close contact has an important role in decreasing feelings of loneliness. Besides the effects on the loneliness score, pet ownership was not associated with positive or negative affective states. The strength of the attachment to animals, measured as the amount of comfort that people obtain from their pets, was stronger in people with potentially limited access to affiliative physical human contact and was associated with both higher positive and negative affective states. Additionally, people obtained significantly more comfort from dogs and horses compared with other pet species. The results suggest that during the confinement period, pets may have benefited people with smaller social networks by alleviating loneliness and offering comfort and embodied close contact.

Explorative study on scale cortisol accumulation in wild caught common dab (Limanda limanda).

BACKGROUND: Flatfish live in a diverse marine ecosystem that is changing due to natural variations and anthropogenic influences. These changes can evoke a stress response mainly resulting in production of the glucocorticoid cortisol, which mediates effects on various levels of biological organization. The finding that cortisol accumulates in fish scales, offering a retrospective view on cortisol production, provides opportunities to use this matrix for chronic stress assessment. The present study is the first to gather information on scale cortisol concentration in wild-caught common dab (Limanda limanda), based on a two-pronged approach using (1) field measurements and (2) a laboratory in vivo-study where wild-caught dab were fed by cortisol-spiked feed during 30 or 90 days to demonstrate the possible accumulation of cortisol in the scales and to evaluate its impact on fish health. RESULTS: Based on the field measurements, the average scale cortisol concentration in wild-caught fish was 0.0034 ± 0.0046 µg kg-1 scale (n = 67). This indicates that wild common dab is indeed able to incorporate cortisol in the scales. Based on the experimental data, the cortisol-fed fish showed an increased plasma cortisol concentration (80.16 ± 82.58 µg L-1) compared to the control group (4.54 ± 9.57 µg L-1) after 30 days of cortisol feeding. The increase in plasma cortisol concentration was positively correlated with an increased cortisol concentration in the scale after 30 days of cortisol-spiked feeding. This correlation was, however, no longer observed after 90 days of cortisol-spiked feeding. Interestingly, cortisol concentration of the scales on the pigmented side was significantly higher compared to the non-pigmented side. Some health parameters such as epidermal thickness, body condition and Ichthyobodo sp. parasitic infection showed a correlation with scale cortisol concentration after 30 days. CONCLUSIONS: We have demonstrated that common dab is able to accumulate cortisol in its scales. This seems to occur proportionally to circulating concentrations of plasma cortisol in fish fed with cortisol supplemented feed after 30 days.

A Treatment Plan for Dogs (Canis familiaris) That Show Impaired Social Functioning towards Their Owners.

Many domestic dogs are uncomfortable when humans perform trivial and benign actions that the animals perceive as threatening. A common technique for addressing canine emotional discomfort involves desensitization, where the intensity of a problematic stimulus is gradually increased while the dog remains relaxed. Desensitization requires a skillful owner and is complicated when actions of the owner are the stimuli to be desensitised. This paper introduces a behaviour modification programme for dogs with impaired social functioning in relation to the (inter)actions by their owners, consisting of (1) increasing owner knowledge and awareness regarding dog body language and perception of owner actions, (2) management of the daily life of the dog through general stress reduction and avoidance of stressful situations, and (3) behaviour modification through training. The latter component entails a non-threatening, predictable exercise in which the dog has control over any perceived threats, the introduction of the safety cue with subsequent desensitization, and engaging activities with the owner that the dog finds enjoyable. We also present a case series report to examine a selection of dogs with impaired social functioning, from signalment to outcome, when treated with the proposed behaviour modification and examine which adaptations were made to the plan according to individual dogs. Finally, we avenues for future research.

Seizure-alerting behavior in dogs owned by people experiencing seizures.

INTRODUCTION: The unpredictability of epileptic seizures is considered an important threat to the quality of life of a person with epilepsy. Currently, however, there are no tools for seizure prediction that can be applied to the domestic setting. Although the information about seizure-alert dogs - dogs that display changes in behavior before a seizure that are interpreted by the owner as an alert - is mostly anecdotal; living with an alerting dog (AD) has been reported to improve quality of life of the owner by reducing the stress originating from the unpredictability of epileptic seizures and, sometimes, diminishing the seizure frequency. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of the study was to investigate, at an international level, the behaviors displayed by trained and untrained dogs that are able to anticipate seizures and to identify patient- and dog-related factors associated with the presence or absence of alerting behavior. METHODOLOGY: An online questionnaire for dog owners with seizures was designed. Information about the participants (demographics, seizure type, presence of preictal symptoms) and their dogs (demographics, behavior around the time of seizures) was collected. In addition, two validated scales were included to measure the human-dog relationship (Monash Dog-Owner Relationship scale (MDORS)) and five different traits of the dogs' personality (Monash Canine Personality Questionnaire refined (MCPQ-R)). RESULTS: Two hundred and twenty-seven responses of people experiencing seizures were received from six participant countries: 132 from people with dogs that had started alerting spontaneously, 10 from owners of trained AD, and the rest from owners of dogs that did not display any alerting behavior (nonalerting dog (NAD)). Individuals' gender, age, or seizure type did not predict the presence of alerting behavior in their dogs. People who indicated that they experience preictal symptoms were more likely to have a spontaneously AD. The owner-dog bond was significantly higher with ADs compared with NADs, and ADs scored significantly higher than NADs in the personality traits "Amicability", "Motivation", and "Training focus". CONCLUSION: This study collected a large group of dog owners with seizures reporting behavioral changes in their dogs before their seizures occurred. This was associated with the presence of preictal symptoms. The seizure-alerting behavior of the dog may have a positive influence on the bond between the owner and the dog.