Conceptual Replication of Canine Serum Oxytocin Increase Following a Positive Dog-human Interaction

Hrițcu, Luminiţa Diana; Horhogea, C.; Ciobîcă, Alin; Spataru, Mihaela Claudia; Spataru, Constatin; Kis, Anna

doi:10.37358/rc.19.5.7172

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…In our study, there was no significant difference in pre-and post-session salivary oxytocin concentrations, suggesting that the emotional state of the dogs remained stable pre-and post-session. Our result differs from other studies that have reported oxytocin level increases in dogs after positive interactions with humans (see, e.g., in [30][31][32]42,43]). Our methodology may explain why we did not observe an increase in oxytocin post-session: we did not want to interfere with the dynamics between the patients with FM and the AAA teams, and thus did not give any instructions to the patients on how to interact with the dogs.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

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Physiological State of Therapy Dogs during Animal-Assisted Activities in an Outpatient Setting

Clark

Martin²,

McGowan³

et al. 2020

Animals

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Therapy dogs are increasingly being incorporated into numerous clinical settings. However, there are only a handful of studies that have focused on the impact of animal-assisted activity or therapy sessions on the wellbeing of the therapy dogs. Furthermore, these studies show mixed results. The goal of this study was to provide an in-depth picture of the effects of these interactions on the dogs involved by considering multiple physiological measures known to be associated with emotional state (continuous heart rate, heart rate variability, pre- and post-session tympanic membrane temperatures, and salivary cortisol and oxytocin concentrations). Nineteen Mayo Clinic Caring Canine therapy dogs completed five 20-minute animal-assisted activity (AAA) visits each in an outpatient clinical setting (Mayo Clinic Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Clinic). From a physiological perspective, the dogs showed a neutral to positive response to the AAA sessions. Heart rate (HR) was significantly lower at the end of the session compared with the beginning of the session (F = 17.26, df1 = 1, df2 = 29.7, p = 0.0003). The right tympanic membrane temperature was lower post-session (F = 8.87, df1 = 1, df2 = 107, p = 0.003). All other emotional indicators remained stable between pre- and post-session. These results suggest that the dogs involved were not negatively affected by their participation in the AAA. Moreover, there was some evidence suggesting the dogs may have been in a more relaxed state at the end of the session (lower HR and lower right tympanic membrane temperature) compared to the beginning of the session.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…The mean cortisol concentration levels pre-session for the dogs in our study were comparable to concentration levels reported in the literature [29]; less is known about oxytocin in dogs. The available data show greater variation [30][31][32]. This may be due to the fact that individual dog's oxytocin levels have a wide range.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physiological State of Therapy Dogs during Animal-Assisted Activities in an Outpatient Setting

Clark

Martin²,

McGowan³

et al. 2020

Animals

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“…Dog OT levels, as measured in blood, were found to increase following an interaction with a person (owner or familiar) [15,23,25,30,32] and in all such studies, social interactions involved either talking, eye contact, and stroking or just stroking for between 5 and a maximum of 30 min. Indeed, in the one study that compared these eliciting stimuli, physical contact involving stroking was shown to best trigger a rise in oxytocin [25].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, more recently a number of authors have criticized the oversimplified view of OT’s role in social relationships in general [29] and in the dog-human relationship in particular [17]. Indeed, findings from the dogs’ perspective are inconsistent, with dogs’ endogenous OT levels being shown to increase following social interactions with their owner in some studies [15,27,30] but not in others [26,31]. Furthermore, in some studies dogs’ OT levels increased also after being stroked by a familiar person rather than the owner [22,32] calling into question the link between oxytocin and bonding.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Oxytocin in the Dog–Owner Relationship

Marshall-Pescini

Schaebs

Gaugg

et al. 2019

Animals

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Simple SummaryA number of studies have shown that when dogs and humans interact with each other in a positive way (for example cuddling) both partners exhibit a surge in oxytocin, a hormone which has been linked to positive emotional states. It is not clear however, if this increase in oxytocin occurs between any dog and human or whether this is more specific to the dog–owner bond. In this study we measured oxytocin levels in dogs and humans before and after they interacted with their closely bonded partner (dog–owner dyads) and with a partner they were familiar with but with whom they did not have a close bond. Based on previous literature we predicted that dogs and owners would show an increase in oxytocin after a positive social interaction, and that this increase would be higher when the dog and owner were interacting with each other than when the interaction occurred with a partner that was just ‘familiar’. In fact, overall we did not find an increase in either, dogs’ or humans’ oxytocin level, although there was a lot of variability in the response. We discuss various reasons why our results are not in line with other studies.AbstractOxytocin (OT) is involved in multiple social bonds, from attachment between parents and offspring to “friendships”. Dogs are an interesting species in which to investigate the link between the oxytocinergic system and social bonds since they establish preferential bonds with their own species but also with humans. Studies have shown that the oxytocinergic system may be involved in the regulation of such inter-specific relationships, with both dogs and their owners showing an increase in OT levels following socio-positive interactions. However, no direct comparison has been made in dogs’ OT reactivity following a social interaction with the owner vs. a familiar (but not bonded) person, so it is unclear whether relationship type mediates OT release during socio-positive interactions or whether the interaction per se is sufficient. Here we investigated OT reactivity in both dogs and owners, following a socio-positive interaction with each other or a familiar partner. Results showed neither the familiarity with the partner, nor the type of interaction affected OT reactivity (as measured in urine) in either dogs or owners. Given the recent mixed results on the role of oxytocin in dog-human interactions, we suggest there is a need for greater standardization of methodologies, an assessment of overall results taking into account ‘publication bias’ issues, and further studies investigating the role of relationship quality and interaction type on OT release.

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“…Recent studies provide supporting evidence that dogs, at least in particular situations, find human social interaction intrinsically rewarding, and the quality of human interaction can modify even the hormonal level of dogs (for a review see Kis et al., 2017 ). Positive human interaction has the potential to increase oxytocin—a neurohormone related to attachment behaviors—( Hritcu et al., 2019 ; Kis et al., 2017 ) while social isolation (e.g. in case of shelter dogs) increases cortisol—a neurohormone associated with stress level ( Gunter et al., 2019 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The implicit reward value of the owner's face for dogs

et al. 2021

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Summary It is increasingly assumed that domestication has equipped dogs with unique socio-cognitive skills, which raises the possibility of intriguing parallels between the social motivational systems of the two species. However, the positive incentive value of human facial stimuli is a largely unexplored area. Here, we investigated whether the owner's face serves as a social reinforcer. In a two-way choice task N = 39 dogs were presented with a short video about their owners' head showing the face (facing owner [FO]) vs. the back of the head (non-facing owner). Despite both locations containing equal food reward, dogs approached the container associated with FO more frequently (p < .001), and this was not affected by side, trial order, and choice latency. However, the considerable inter-individual differences in dogs' task performance suggest that the added social component required special social skills which need to be further explored.

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Conceptual Replication of Canine Serum Oxytocin Increase Following a Positive Dog-human Interaction

Cited by 10 publications

References 13 publications

Physiological State of Therapy Dogs during Animal-Assisted Activities in an Outpatient Setting

Physiological State of Therapy Dogs during Animal-Assisted Activities in an Outpatient Setting

The Role of Oxytocin in the Dog–Owner Relationship

The implicit reward value of the owner's face for dogs

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