A test session consisted of four presentation phases (1 st exposure to stimulus, post exposure, 2 nd exposure, and access to reward). Heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) responses were recorded during testing in the experimental room and also when lying resting in a quiet familiar room. A new method of 'stitching' short periods of HRV data together was used in the analysis. When testing different stimuli, no significant differences were observed in HR and LF:HF ratio (relative power in low frequency (LF) and the high-frequency (HF) range), implying that the sympathetic tone was activated similarly for all the stimuli and may suggest that dogs were in a state of positive arousal. A decrease of HF was associated with the meatball stimulus compared to the food pellet and the reward phase (interacting with the person or eating the food) was associated with a decrease in HF and RMSSD (root mean square of successive differences of inter-beat intervals) compared to the preceding phase (looking at the person or food). This suggests that parasympathetic deactivation is associated with a more positive emotional state in the dog.A similar reduction in HF and RMSSD was found in the test situation compared to the resting situation. This is congruent with the expected autonomic effects related to postural shift i.e. sympathetic activation and parasympathetic withdrawal, during standing versus lying, but it cannot explain the parasympathetic deactivation in response to the more positive stimuli since the dogs were always standing in the test situation. We discuss the systematic pattern of responses, which support that increased HR and LF:HF ratio are associated with emotional arousal, but add the new proposal that a combined decrease in A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T
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