Dogs have lived with humans for 1000's of years. They have been used for hunting, guarding, herding and performing many other tasks, but today they mainly function companions. Although their lives today seem easier than those of their ancestors, they still face many pressures. Doctor visits.
Just a few years ago, researchers in France showed how a dog owner Treats Dr. Affects their pet's stress levels. Studies show that negative owner behavior during a veterinary exam, equivalent to scolding, increases the dog's anxiety.
But before our recent research at Queen's University Belfast, nobody had investigated the consequences of owner stress on their dogs in a controlled environment. Our study It differs from the above research, because it specifically checked out the effect of owner stress, as measured by changes in heart rate, when their dog was exposed to the stress of a vet. is
Twenty-eight owners and their dogs participated in our experiment. Both owners and dogs wore heart rate monitors throughout the experiment so we could monitor and record their heart rate and heart rate variability to measure stress levels.
We then exposed the owners to the stress or stress-relieving intervention and monitored its effects on them in addition to their dogs. The stressful intervention consisted of a Digital stress testwherein the owners should perform a mental arithmetic task in addition to an oral presentation task. The stress-relieving intervention was a five-minute guided respiration meditation video.
We found that the dogs' heart rates decreased as they became accustomed to the veterinary clinic environment. This suggests that vets should give dogs time to get used to the clinic before examining them. Not only will this reduce their stress, but it could possibly also improve the validity of any tests or exams performed, as increased stress can lead to elevated measures equivalent to heart and respiratory rates.
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Emotional contagion
We also found that changes within the owner's heart rate from pre-experiment to through the experiment could predict changes of their dog's heart rate. If the owner's heart rate increased or decreased through the experiment, their dog's heart rate was more likely to increase or decrease as well.
These findings suggest that dogs can recognize stress of their owners, and this will affect their very own stress levels through a strategy of “emotional contagion.” It is a phenomenon where people, and other animals, can “catch” or mimic the emotions and behavior of those around them, either consciously or unconsciously.
This may indicate that dogs look to their owners to tell their reactions to latest environments. Owners were asked to not interact with their dogs in the course of the experiment. Therefore any assessment of owner stress by their dogs was made without direct interaction between owner and pet.
So what does this mean for the common dog owner? If our stress has the potential to affect our dogs, it needs to be considered once we visit the vet. If vets may also help owners feel more relaxed during visits to the clinic, it could possibly help their dogs feel more relaxed as well.
A holistic approach to animal care, where the animal, its owner and environment are taken into consideration, is more likely to end in one of the best welfare outcomes.
While our research focused totally on the connection between dogs and their owners, a A recent study A canine behavioral investigation found that smelling the sweat of a stressed human, which was unfamiliar to the dog, affected the dog's learning and cognition. Cognitive bias test. The test measures whether an animal is in a positive or negative emotional state, and whether it's more likely to make decisions with an optimistic or pessimistic outlook. This suggests that dogs will be affected by stress from strangers in addition to their owners.
What our latest research makes clear is that dogs are perceptive animals which are influenced by the world and the people around them. People who take care of or work with dogs needs to be aware that their very own stress can affect their dogs.