Investigating putative depression-like states in the domestic dog: Does greater time spent displaying waking inactivity in the home kennel co-vary with negative judgment of ambiguity?

Harvey, Naomi D.; Moesta, Alexandra; Wongsaengchan, Chanakarn; Harris, Hannah; Craigon, Peter J.; Fureix, Carole

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2020.105025

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Instead of active behaviour such as moving or standing, lying inactive but awake can also be an expression of continuous restlessness and alertness [ 53 ] which especially during the night alerts on adaptation problems and may impede welfare if proceeding on the long term. Although a problem with sleeping is a symptom of clinical depression in humans [ 54 ], studies in sheltered dogs show that ‘quiet wakefulness’ during the day was not associated with depression-like characteristics [ 55 , 56 ]. The underlying motivations and interpretation of ‘quiet wakefulness’ are still unclear.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensor-supported measurement of adaptability of dogs (Canis familiaris) to a shelter environment: Nocturnal activity and behavior

2023

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Every shelter dog is faced with the challenge to adapt to a kennel environment. To monitor the welfare of individual shelter dogs, evaluating behavioural and physiological parameters, potentially useful as indicators for adaptability of individual dogs is crucial. Nocturnal activity, i.e. resting patterns, has already been identified as a candidate indicator of adaptability and can be easily measured remotely with the help of sensors. We investigated the usefulness of a 3-axial accelerometer (Actigraph®) to monitor nocturnal activity in shelter dogs every night during the full first two weeks in-shelter starting directly at shelter intake, as a measure of welfare. Additionally, urinary cortisol/creatinine ratio (UCCR), body weight and behaviour data were collected to evaluate stress responses. A control group of pet dogs in homes, matched to the shelter dog group, was also monitored. Shelter dogs had higher nocturnal activity and UCCRs than pet dogs, especially during the first days in the shelter. Nocturnal activity, both accelerometer measures and activity behaviour, and UCCRs decreased over nights in the shelter. Smaller dogs had higher nocturnal activity and UCCRs than larger dogs and showed less autogrooming during the first nights. Dogs with no previous kennel experience had higher nocturnal activity and UCCRs, and showed less body shaking, than dogs with previous kennel experience. Overall, sheltered dogs also showed less body shaking during the first night. The number of dogs showing paw lifting decreased over days. Age class and sex effected only few activity behaviours. Shelter dogs significantly lost body weight after 12 days in the shelter compared to the moment of intake. Shelter dogs had disrupted nocturnal resting patterns and UCCRs compared to pet dogs and seem to partly adapt to the shelter environment after two weeks. Sensor-supported identification of nocturnal activity can be a useful additional tool for welfare assessments in animal shelters.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensor-supported measurement of adaptability of dogs (Canis familiaris) to a shelter environment: Nocturnal activity and behavior

2023

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“…More recently, Walker and colleagues [ 34 ] applied a spatial JBT to sheltered dogs and noticed that separation from their kennel-mate did not induce a pessimistic mood. More broadly, with regards the relationship between welfare state and judgment bias in sheltered dogs, Owczarczak-Garstecka and colleagues [ 35 ] found that the percentage of time spent asleep during the night was not predicted by dogs’ optimistic/pessimistic bias, while Harvey and colleagues [ 36 ] found that a more pessimistic judgment bias was unrelated to the amount of time dogs were awake, but inactive, in the home environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using judgment bias test in pet and shelter dogs (Canis familiaris): Methodological and statistical caveats

et al. 2020

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It is now widely agreed that a positive affective state is a crucial component of animal well-being. The judgment bias test represents a widespread tool used to assess animals’ optimistic/pessimistic attitude and to evaluate their emotional state and welfare. Judgment bias tests have been used several times with dogs ( Canis familiaris ), in most cases using a spatial test with a bowl placed in ambiguous positions located between a relatively positive trained location (P) which contains a baited bowl and a relatively negative trained location (N) which contains an empty bowl. The latency to approach the bowl in the ambiguous locations is an indicator of the dog’s expectation of a positive/negative outcome. However, results from such tests are often inconclusive. For the present study, the judgment bias test performance of 51 shelter dogs and 40 pet dogs was thoroughly analysed. A pattern emerged with shelter dogs behaving in a more pessimistic-like way than pet dogs. However, this difference between the two populations was detected only when analysing the raw latencies to reach the locations and not the more commonly applied adjusted score (i.e. average latency values). Furthermore, several methodological caveats were found. First of all, a non-negligible percentage of dogs did not pass the training phase, possibly due to the experimental paradigm not being fully suited for this species. Second, results showed a high intra-dog variability in response to the trained locations, i.e. the dogs’ responses were not consistent throughout the test, suggesting that animals may not have fully learned the association between locations and their outcomes. Third, dogs did not always behave differently towards adjacent locations, raising doubts about the animals’ ability to discriminate between locations. Finally, a potential influence of the researcher’s presence on dogs’ performance emerged from analyses. The implications of these findings and potential solutions are discussed.

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“…In the test phase, the dog is presented with ambiguous stimuli over a series of trials, in this case, a bowl in one of three positions between the far right ‘Positive’ and far-left ‘Negative’ positions; either ‘Near Negative’ (NN), ‘Middle’ (M) or ‘Near Positive’ (NP). The dog’s latency to approach these ambiguous stimuli has been widely used as a measure of that dog’s affective state (e.g., Burani et al 2020 ; Burman et al 2011 ; Gruen et al 2019 ; Karagiannis et al 2015 ; Mendl et al 2010 ; Müller et al 2012 ; Wells et al 2017 and Willen et al 2019 who used the five bowl protocol as described above, and Duranton and Horowitz 2019 ; Kis et al 2015 and Harvey et al 2020 who used a modified protocol with M as the only ambiguous location). If the dog is faster to approach the ambiguous bowl, it indicates a positive judgement bias (more “optimistic”), whereas a slower approach suggests a negative judgement bias (more “pessimistic”).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of repeated testing on judgement bias in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris)

Wilson¹,

Campbell

Arnott³

et al. 2022

Anim Cogn

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Judgement bias paradigms are increasingly being used as a measure of affective state in dogs. Approach to an ambiguous stimulus is commonly used as a measure of affect, however, this may also be influenced by learning. This study directly measured the impact of learning on a commonly used judgement bias paradigm in the absence of an affective state manipulation. Dogs (N = 15) were tested on a judgement bias task across five sessions. The dogs’ latency to approach a bowl placed in one of three ambiguous locations between non-baited (negative) and baited (positive) locations was measured. Results show that session number had a significant effect on the dogs’ latencies to reach the ambiguous bowl locations, with post-hoc tests revealing that dogs were significantly slower to approach the locations as the number of sessions increased. Session number also had a significant effect on the number of times the dogs did not approach the bowl within 30 s of being released, with the number of no approaches generally increasing across sessions. When dog identity was included as a fixed effect, a significant effect on latency to approach was found, suggesting that some dogs were consistently faster than others across sessions. To assess whether the paradigm produced repeatable results, Intraclass Correlation Coefficients were used. A low degree of reliability was found between latencies to approach each bowl position across sessions. This study demonstrates that dogs learned that the ambiguous locations were not rewarded with repeated exposures, and that this impacted their responses. We conclude that this judgement bias paradigm may require further consideration if applied across multiple exposures and that repeated results should be interpreted with caution as they are likely impacted by learning.

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Investigating putative depression-like states in the domestic dog: Does greater time spent displaying waking inactivity in the home kennel co-vary with negative judgment of ambiguity?

Abstract: Investigating putative depression-like states in the domestic dog: does greater time spent displaying waking inactivity in the home kennel co-vary with negative judgment of ambiguity?Harvey, ND

Cited by 8 publications

References 62 publications

Sensor-supported measurement of adaptability of dogs (Canis familiaris) to a shelter environment: Nocturnal activity and behavior

Sensor-supported measurement of adaptability of dogs (Canis familiaris) to a shelter environment: Nocturnal activity and behavior

Using judgment bias test in pet and shelter dogs (Canis familiaris): Methodological and statistical caveats

The effect of repeated testing on judgement bias in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris)

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