Poor knowledge is available on the effectiveness of reading to dogs in educational settings, particularly in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). In this study, we test the hypothesis that reading to a dog improves propensity towards books and motivation to read after the end of the programme, as well as reading and cognitive skills in children with ASD. The study is a prospective, randomized controlled trial, consisting of testing and re-testing after a 10 sessions reading programme with and without the presence of a dog. Nine Children with ASD (6–11 years old) were randomly assigned to a control (CG, reading without a dog, n. 4) or experimental group (EG, reading to a dog, n. 5). Children’s attendance at reading sessions was recorded at each session. Parents’ perceptions were evaluated at the end of the programme to detect changes in children’s attitudes and motivation toward reading. Psychologist-administered validated reading (Cornoldi’s MT2 reading test; test of reading comprehension, TORC; metaphonological competence test, MCF) and cognitive tests (Wechsler intelligence scale for children Wisc IV, Vineland) to all children, at baseline and at the end of the reading programme. Compared with CG children, children in the EG group participated more frequently in the reading sessions, and they were reported to be more motivated readers at home after the programme. However, there were no differences on reading and cognitive tests’ scores either within each group of children or between groups. Further studies are warranted in order to understand whether and how incorporating dogs into a reading programme is beneficial to Children with ASD at the socio-emotional and cognitive level.

Exposure to sub-lethal hydrostatic pressure (HP) treatment is emerging as an approach to improve the general resistance of gametes and embryos to in vitro conditions. The present study was aimed to evaluate the effect of HP treatment on in vitro-produced ovine blastocysts. Experiment 1 was aimed to define optimal treatment parameters: two different HP treatments were applied to blastocysts and embryo survival was evaluated. In Experiment 2, HP parameters (40 MPa, 70 min, 38 °C) selected in Experiment 1 were used to treat blastocysts. Embryo quality was assessed and compared with untreated controls by counting total cell number, the inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) cells and by evaluating nuclear picnosis. HP-treated blastocysts were processed for gene expression analysis (AQP3, ATP1A1, BAX, CDH1, HSP90β, NANOG, OCT4 and TP53) 1, 5h after the end of HP exposure. Results showed that the hatching rate of embryos treated at 40 MPa was significantly higher than that of the 60 MPa-treated group (P<0.01) and similar to untreated embryos. Blastocysts exposed at 40 MPa showed higher ICM (P<0.05) and TE (P<0.01) cell number and a lower percentage of picnotic nuclei (P<0.05) compared with the control group. Significantly lower abundance for BAX (P<0.01) and OCT4 (P<0.05) transcripts were observed in HP embryos than in the control group. In conclusion, treatment with HP improved the quality of in vitro-produced ovine blastocysts by increasing their cell number and reducing the proportion of nuclear picnosis.

Simple SummaryThe aim of this study was the scientific validation of a novel instrument (the Mourning Dog Questionnaire) designed to allow a comprehensive quantitative analysis of grief responses in dog owners after the death of a pet dog, which is a still underestimated issue. This instrument was based on a grid of quantitative measurable outcomes that combines five different questionnaires concerning levels of attachment to pets, responses to the loss of a pet, outlook on life events and grief, perceptions of animals in terms of emotions, needs and legal right. We found that pet owners have the tendency to humanise their pet and perceive animals no differently from humans in terms of emotions, needs and legal rights. In addition, after the death of the pet, a negative view of life was described according to the findings. The Mourning Dog Questionnaire could be a useful tool considering the high numbers of people who are at risk of experiencing the loss of a companion dog, which makes this type of grief as potential major concern for public health and human welfare.AbstractPeople often develop strong emotional connections with their dogs and consider them to be members of the family. The purpose of this study was to develop a novel validated tool, the Mourning Dog Questionnaire, to recognise and evaluate the mourning process in people who have lost a dog. The research model was based on a grid of five different questionnaires: the Pet Bereavement Questionnaire, the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale, the Animal-Human Continuity Scale, the Positivity Scale, and the Testoni Death Representation Scale. The Italian version of the survey was posted on social networks. A sample of 369 Italian dog owners filled in the questionnaire (mean age ± SD 42.00 ± 10.70 years). Reliability indices were good for all instruments. The total scores of the five questionnaires correlated with each other. The results from the Mourning Dog Questionnaire support the negative view of life after the death of a pet and people’s tendency to humanise their pet, since dog owners perceived animals no differently from humans in terms of emotions, needs and legal rights. Findings arising from the use of the Mourning Dog Questionnaire will help the implementation of rationality-based strategies to improve the wellbeing, resilience and quality of life of people in the world experiencing the loss of a pet.

Physiological biomarkers of canine anxiety have not been extensively investigated to date. To identify new biomarkers in dogs, we compared behaviorally normal dogs (Control group, N = 13) to dogs diagnosed with separation problems (Case group, N = 13) as they were introduced into a novel environment in the presence of two strangers and subjected to a short episode of separation and reunion with the owner. During the separation phase, dogs in the Case group explored significantly less than controls and were significantly more persistent in expressing passive stress-coping strategies aimed at seeking proximity to their owners. When the owners returned, dogs with separation distress spent significantly more time jumping up on the strangers than control dogs did. Salivary oxytocin and vasopressin concentrations did not differ between samples taken before and after the separation. However, vasopressin concentrations immediately after separation were significantly higher in the Case than in the Control group and remained higher, although not significantly so, 10 min later. These results indicated that dogs with separation distress became more anxious than typical dogs when separated from their owner in an unfamiliar environment and provided preliminary support for the use of salivary vasopressin as a possible biomarker for anxiety-related responses in dogs.

Chasing motion is often used to study the perception of inanimate objects as animate. When chasing interaction and independent motions between two agents are displayed simultaneously on a screen, we expect observers to quickly perceive and recognise the chasing pattern (because of its familiarity) and turn their attention to the independent motion (novelty effect). In case of isosceles triangles as moving figures, dogs and humans both display this behaviour, but dogs initially preferred to look at the chasing pattern whereas humans started to increase their gaze towards the independent motion earlier. Here, we compared whether family cats perceive moving inanimate objects as animate and whether their looking behaviour is similar to that of small family dogs. We displayed a chasing and independent motion side by side on a screen in two consecutive trials and assessed subjects’ looking behaviour towards the motions. Similarly to previous studies, we found that dogs eventually looked longer at the independent motion, but cats preferred to look at the independent motion at the beginning of the video display and only later shifted their attention to the chasing motion. No difference was found in the frequency of gaze alternation of the two species. Thus, although cats discriminate between the chasing and independent motions, it is not clear whether this discrimination is controlled by animate motion cues. The difference may originate from their ecological situation and/or may be explained by specific perceptual mechanisms.