Fear expressions of dogs during New Year fireworks: a video analysis

Abstract

A high proportion of pet dogs show fear-related behavioural problems, with noise fears being most prevalent. Nonetheless, few studies have objectively evaluated fear expression in this species. Using owner-provided video recordings, we coded behavioural expressions of pet dogs during a real-life firework situation at New Year’s Eve and compared them to behaviour of the same dogs on a different evening without fireworks (control condition), using Wilcoxon signed ranks tests. A backwards-directed ear position, measured at the base of the ear, was most strongly associated with the fireworks condition (effect size: Cohen’s d = 0.69). Durations of locomotion (d = 0.54) and panting (d = 0.45) were also higher during fireworks than during the control condition. Vocalisations (d = 0.40), blinking (d = 0.37), and hiding (d = 0.37) were increased during fireworks, but this was not significant after sequential Bonferroni correction. This could possibly be attributed to the high inter-individual variability in the frequency of blinking and the majority of subjects not vocalising or hiding at all. Thus, individual differences must be taken into account when aiming to assess an individual’s level of fear, as relevant measures may not be the same for all individuals. Firework exposure was not associated with an elevated rate of other so-called ‘stress signals’, lip licking and yawning.

A Review on Mitigating Fear and Aggression in Dogs and Cats in a Veterinary Setting

“…Both fear and anxiety are unpleasant emotional reactions to the presence (fear) or potential presence (anxiety) of a threat [ 14 ]; however, there is no empirical data on distinguishing expressions of anxiety vs. fear in dogs and cats (c.f. [ 15 , 16 ]). Therefore, and since anxiety promotes fear and vice versa [ 13 , 17 ], we subsequently use the term “fear” to denote both fear and anxiety responses.…”

“…Fearful dogs usually have their ears directed backwards or flattened. Further signs of fear in dogs include a lowered posture, a lowered or even tucked tail, panting, increased salivation, trembling and emptying of the anal glands [ 3 , 15 , 37 , 39 ]. Lip licking is a commonly used appeasement signal in a social context [ 15 , 37 ].…”

“…Further signs of fear in dogs include a lowered posture, a lowered or even tucked tail, panting, increased salivation, trembling and emptying of the anal glands [ 3 , 15 , 37 , 39 ]. Lip licking is a commonly used appeasement signal in a social context [ 15 , 37 ]. However, when feeling severely threatened, dogs may freeze completely [ 38 ] and no longer show other communicative signals [ 37 ].…”

Evaluating the accuracy of facial expressions as emotion indicators across contexts in dogs

“…The high prevalence of the negative correlate Ears flattener in the positive condition was rather unexpected, given that this ear movement was previously associated with negative emotional states in dogs (e.g., Gähwiler et al 2020). Although we lack reference values for its specificity for putatively negative emotional states, this result potentially challenges our assumption that we consistently induced the target emotional states as intended in the respective conditions.…”

“…In line with our previous study (Bremhorst et al 2019), blinking was increased in the negative condition relative to the positive condition. Blinking has previously been associated with fear states in dogs (Gähwiler et al 2020;Mills 2005). Additionally, blinking has been considered to be an appeasement gesture, which dogs produce in conflicting situations (but empirical evidence validating this function is lacking) (e.g., Kuhne 2016;Kuhne et al 2012;Siniscalchi et al 2018).…”