Behavioral observations in dogs in 4 research facilities: Do they use their enrichment?

Impact of the First COVID-19 Lockdown on Management of Pet Dogs in the UK

“…Firstly, not all dogs will have the company of another household dog and, secondly, although individual differences might exist research has shown that dogs tend to choose dog–human play rather than dog–dog play, and to be more interactive when playing with people than dogs [ 53 ]. Furthermore, although few studies have explored the extent to which pet dogs play with toys, studies of dogs kept in research establishments report conflicting results on the extent to which toys and chews are used by dogs from rarely [ 54 ] to 24% of their time [ 55 ] and dogs housed in rescue shelters may benefit little, if at all, from toys placed in their kennel without accompanying human interaction [ 56 ]. Hence, greater increase in social play/training is likely to have resulted in greater benefit to the dogs involved than would have a similar increase in provision of a toy, perhaps something appreciated by the owners involved (either consciously or subconsciously).…”

Effects of Calf Horn as Chews on the Behavior of Laboratory Dogs

“…A possible explanation is a difference in the dogs' diet or the young age of the dogs in facility B, because according to McKeown (1996), coprophagy occurs mostly in juvenile dogs between six months and one year of age. Döring et al (2016a), in a comparison of laboratory dogs in four research facilities, also found that young dogs have a higher tendency to eat feces.…”

“…123, Council of Europe, 2006). However, at present no standardized chew objects are available that are established for laboratory dog husbandry (Döring et al, 2016a(Döring et al, , 2016b. Furthermore, Baumans and Van Loo (2013) state that enrichment must have a positive effect on the animals, that is, it should enhance their physical and psychological well-being.…”

“…Enrichment objects like chews are recommended for dogs housed in laboratories by European law (Appendix A of ETS No. 123, Council of Europe, 2006;European Directive 2010/63/EU, 2010 as well as by many authors and organizations (e.g., Döring et al, 2016a;Hubrecht, 1993Hubrecht, , 1995Joint Working Group on Refinement, 2004;Overall & Dyer, 2005). The objects have to fulfill several requirements: they have to be hygienic and safe; they must not interfere with the test objectives; and they need to be attractive so that the dogs will use them often.…”

“…Apart from a few exceptions (e.g., Hubrecht, 1993Hubrecht, , 1995, there are mainly reports from research institutions about their experiences with enrichment but no studies that systematically investigated the effect of chewing items on the behavior of the dogs. Pullen, Ndende Merrill, and Bradshaw (2010) and Döring et al (2016a) showed that robust or hard toys are rarely used by kenneled and laboratory dogs. James (1961) offered different objects to puppies over fiveminute sessions and observed how long the puppies interacted with these objects within this time frame.…”