test 3 apsc 4464

what is welfare

focuses on the state of the animal

animal's collective physical, behavioral, and emotional states

Animal welfare refers to an animal's collective _____, ______, and ____ states over a period of time, and is measured on a continuum from good to poor

physical

mental

emotional

characteristics of enhanced welfare

free chronic stressors

environment promotes positive affective states

-underlying emotional state: happy, sad, afraid, anxious

Allows for fun and facilitates expression of natural behaviors, including social interaction and play for social species

How can you assess welfare

endocrine measures

cardiovascular measures

immune measures

behavioral measures

indicators of poor welfare

indicators of good welfare

endocrine measures: HPA Axis

stressor present

Hypothalamus--> corticotropin releasing hormone and vasopressin --> adreno-corticotrophin hormone (ACTH) --> cortisol

stress and cortisol

stress/arousal is necessary

acute stressors

chronic stressor

cortisol indicative of arousal

-increases after arousing events, not just stressors

-learning, exercise, visiting dog park

influences on cortisol

stressors

exercise

cold temperatures

diurnal fluctuations

individual differences

eustress vs distress

cortisol as a measure of stress/welfare

potentially problematic

use as one measure among many

within-subject studies better than group studies

different cortisol measures

salivary cortisol

-more invasive

-useful for acute stressors

Urinary cortisol

-relatively non-invasive

-reflection period longer than salivary cortisol

Fecal Cortisol

-non invasive

-less variability than saliva

Hair/Fur Cortisol

-relatively non-invasive

-less variability than saliva

shelter dog cortisol levels

higher than dogs living in their home

dogs boarding for first time increases cortisol levels three-fold

large variation between average cortisol levels across shelters

-suggests husbandry and housing practices impact welfare significantly

B-endorphin

increased levels associated with analgesia, positive states

dopamine

increased levels associated with pleasure

oxytocin

social bonding hormone

measured when assessing social interactions

serotonin (urinary)

new biomarker for dogs

-diurnal fluctuations; drawn higher levels than at dusk

-this difference decreases following regular social interaction sessions

-measure of positive welfare?

cardiovascular measures

blood pressure

-can be taken near base of tail

Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

-decreased HRV occurs during physically or psychologically stressful events

-increased HRV indicates better welfare

Immune Functioning

secretory immunoglobin A (S-IgA)

Immune functioning affected by physiological state of animal including cortisol levels

Highlights importance of welfare more generally

Disease Prevalence in a Shelter

proportion of dogs showing signs of illness across time

behaviors that predict illness

dogs that ranked higher on sociability seemed more prone to illness

behavioral measures

-in shelters, not feasible to collect physiological data

-must rely on behavior to assess welfare and stress

-behaviors that are indicate of stress?

-behaviors that are problematic whether or not they correlate with cortisol?

-How to assess affective state?

activity monitors

can track activity, position, temperature

monitor for abnormalities or changes

shelter vs owned dogs

shelters dogs showed more activity and less time resting

t/f behavior is environmentally dependent

true

Lin Manual Miranda: We changed based on the room we are in

t/f no "true" dog to be discovered by poking and prodding

true

aspects of behavioral assessments in shelters

assess safety

adoptability

predict at home behavior

characteristics of valid behavioral assessments

for predictive validity...

-need to test hundreds/thousands of dogs on a huge battery of behavioral tests

-placed all dogs tested (even the ones you think shouldn't place)

--follow up on those dogs

--were scores on any of those behavioral tests predictive of outcomes?

--ethical issues of placing all dogs

Resource Guarding

55% showed food aggression in the shelter did so after adoption

23% that did not show food aggression did so after adoption

Although not perfect, dogs that did show RG in the shelter were more likely to show RG at home

Using a fake dog to assess dog-dog skills

friendly behaviors showed 84% agreement

Fearful (76%) and aggressive (69%) were more variable

Some behaviors seem sticky and we see them in multiple environments

inappropriate chewing, separation-related anxiety, fear/aggression at the vet, aggression towards unfamiliar dogs, aggression towards unfamiliar people

what happened when Bennett et. al (2015) evaluated dogs using SAFER on day of intake and three days later

-results not consistent

-varied across subtests

-when to test is unclear

-best to continue to monitor

recent push back on behavioral assessments

historically used to cull dogs and make euthanasia decisions

-resource guarding

using assessments as a way to identify dogs' needs to most appropriately allocate resources

-dogs that need dog-dog skills

-dogs that need help with handling

-dogs that are doing poorly in the kennel

--tracking changes in behavior

getting information during routine interactions

-intake exams

-feeding time

-playgroups

-field trips

-sleepovers

create objective behavioral definitions

-easy to record

-trained staff and volunteers

-track-look for changes

more ways to assess behavior in shelter dogs

field trips

fostering/sleepovers

trial adoptions

what to test in behavioral assessments in puppies

suitability for companion homes

-can we predict temperament?

-can we identify what the puppy will need as it matures?

-can we identify what home it will need as an adult?

suitability for working homes

two tests for behavior in puppies

CARAT (Clothier Animal Response Assessment Tool)

Volhard Puppy Test

CARAT

clothier animal response assessment tool

categorizes behavior traits in multiple components that are intuitive and practical

CORE

SOCIAL

SENSORY

PERSISTENCE

INTERACTIVE

COMPLEX TRAITS

Goddard and Beilharz (1984) Puppy behavioral assessments

-ability to detect fearfulness increases with puppy's age

-can we identify what that puppy will need as it matures?

-can we identify what home it will need as an adult?

t/f generally speaking the younger the puppy the better we are at predicting behavior

false; the older the puppy; the better we are at predicting behavior

temperament

relatively enduring predispositions that influence our behavior across many situations

temperament testing adult dogs

Swedish Dog Mentality Assessment

-Swedish working dog association

-social contact

-distance play

American Temperament Test

Guide dogs for the blind

-50% washout rate

-70% after changing to positive reinforcement

Behavioral Assessments for Mature Working Dog Candidates

Weiss and Greenberg (1997)

-selection test was not a good predictor of dog's ability to learn a retrieve or obedience task

-fear/submission subtest were the only predictive subtest

Svartberg (2002)

-shyness-boldness score predicted success in working dog trials

Scent Detection Dogs

-rescues 2 the rescue

questions to ask about observable behaviors

are there desirable behaviors that might predict good welfare and low stress?

Are there undesirable behaviors that might predict bad welfare and high stress?

desirable behaviors

much of this research comes from kenneled dogs: shelter dogs and laboratory dogs

lying down with head down in the kennel

-head up while laying down not the same--vigilant behavior

scratching/licking themselves

stretching

examples of reduced play with adverse environmental conditions

reduced food

social threats

pain

-disbudding calves with and without anesthetic and pain meds

other threats to safety or fitness

t/f play might be indicative of positive affective state (some exceptions)

true

stress signals in dogs

trembling

yelping/whining/whimpering

pacing

excessive panting

hypersalivation

lip licking

whale eye

cowering/crouching

ears pulled back along head

excessive energy

suppressed energy

tail tucked or down

avoiding eye contact

paw lifting

warning signals in dogs

specific aggression warning signals

lip licking

whale eye

freezing

making a direct hard stare

growling

snapping

biting

generally identified stress behaviors in dogs

trembling

whining

panting

excessive barking

aggression

rarely identified stress behaviors in dogs

looking elsewhere

head turn

lip licking

yawning

t/f men are more likely to report dog less stressed than women are

true

in shelter dogs, are there behaviors that predict longer lengths of stay?

no behaviors that predicted a shorter length of stay, but three that predicted longer length of stay:

1. leaning or rubbing on kennel wall (+30 days)

2. Facing away from front of kennel (+15 days)

3. standing (+7 days)

impact of stress of shelter cats

likely to lose weight in shelter

- >82% lost weight, >55% of cats lost more than 5% of body weight

likely to develop an upper respiratory infection (URI)

-increases likelihood of euthanasia

higher stress score correlated with greater risk of URI

likelihood of URI goes up with length of stay

-goal: get cats out of shelter quickly

timeline of stress

increases upon intake

decreases during the next 14 days but still higher than baseline levels after 14 days

-measured in a boarding facility where cats stay in some kennel

-might be different for shelter cats who might be moved into new kennels/rooms

teach animal that one bowl has food: _______

teach animal that one bowl never has food: ________

positive

negative

how can you assess affective state: cognitive or judgement bias

determine this by animal's run speed to each bowl

when run speed to P is sufficiently different from run speed to N, can test

Three test stimuli: near positive (NP), Middle (M), Near Negative (NN)

how do dogs respond to ambiguous stimuli?

unpredictable environments for rats

changes in overnight lighting, cage mates, periods of water/food deprivation, cage tilt

changes occur every few hours

chronic mild stressors--depressive model

t/f pigs with enriched husbandry were more optimistic

true

more space, straw, items to interact with

t/f dairy calves were more pessimistic after hot-iron disbudding

true

t/f dairy calves were more pessimistic following separation from dam

true

t/f dogs with separation-related problem behavior were more pessimistic

true

after undergoing behavioral treatment for problem behavior, were less pessimistic

nasal _______ increases dogs' optimism

oxytocin

shelter dogs receive _______ enrichment were more optimistic

olfactory

dogs that were trained in nosework were more _______ than dogs trained in obedience

optimistic

what behaviors are taught in nosework

moving away from owner

exploring new stimuli

what behaviors are taught in obedience?

stay near the owner

don't explore

what questions to ask when giving an animal two or more choices

how many times did it choose each option?

how much time does it spend with each option?

preference tests in domestic animals

sheltering and husbandry practices

-visual barrier

-with or without kennelmate

-with or without music

litterbox substrates

preferred interactions

t/f dogs prefer petting to vocal praise

true

statistics about shelter dogs in the U.S

over 78 million dogs in the US

more than 20% adoption form shelters

annually, approximately 5.5 million dogs will enter a shelter in the US

most adopted or returned to owner

-14% euthanized

t/f sheltering in the US is changing

true

fewer dogs entering shelters

adoption from shelters increasing

able to keep dogs longer

able to work with medically and behaviorally more challenging dogs

long lengths of stay for some dogs

-many shelters have average lengths of stay over a month or several months long

-shelter welfare more pertinent

proximate welfare

-Reducing stress

-Maintaining health & behavior

-Improving behavioral issues

ultimate welfare

getting adopted and staying adopted

potential stressors

excessive noise

spatial confinement

social isolation

unpredictability

auditory enrichment

classical music resulted in more time resting, more time quiet, less time standing than no music, heavy metal, or pop music

-heavy metal produced more barking

olfactory enrichment

can diffuse through kennel

-lavender and chamomile resulted in more resting and less vocalization

can deliver by giving dogs pieces of cloth with scent on them

-having cloth itself without scent results in less vocalization and more resting

-coconut and ginger cloths showed greatest increase in reclining with eyes closed compared to no-cloth control

dog appeasing pheromone

-useful in reducing barking

-expensive to implement

t/f dogs prefer soft, destructible toys compared to durable, hard toys

true

over ____% of dogs engaged for at least _____% of 15 min period with soft toy vs

____% of dogs engaging with robust toy for ____% of 15 min period

75

25

35

13

t/f over time dogs engage less and less with an object

true

double kennels: dogs eliminated more frequently on side _____ from food and water

away

welfare issue of kennels for bathroom purposes

stress of having to defecate in an area they don't want to or trained not to

co-housing in kenneled laboratory dogs

-reduced cortisol levels

-less spinning/circling

co-housing in shelter dogs

pair house dogs showed a greater reduction in cortisol than single-housed dogs

how does the presence of a bed affect a dog in a kennel

bed at front of kennel results in dog spending more time at front

-but dogs used bed more when it was in the back of the kennel

dogs spend ____-_____% of time on bed

40 to 50

play groups

recommend dyads that are fairly stable

-don't keep mixing dogs with new dogs unless you have to

-predictability, less social stress to navigate

avoid using aversives

-spray bottles, hoses, air horns, shake cans

t/f human interaction is the most useful and well documented intervention for shelter dogs

true

human interaction reduces _______ immediately after interaction

cortisol

long term benefits of human interaction with dogs

increases plasma levels of oxytocin, dopamine, B-endorphin, prolactin

decrease heart rate, increase HRV

dog vocalizes less, try to escape from room less than being left alone

t/f dogs show greater decrease in cortisol with female petters

true

how does fostering benefit shelter dogs

increases human interaction

reduces noise, possibly allows for better sleep

what was collective for cortisol/creatinine analysis in the fostering shelter dog test

urine

t/f just 1 overnight with a foster significantly reduced dogs' cortisol levels

true

adopters spend on average ______ seconds in front of a kennel

70

___% initiated an interaction with a dog

interaction lasted on average of ____ seconds

41

20

only average, people at shelters only look at _____% of available dogs

29

t/f dogs in kennels near the entrance attracted more attention from visitors

true

t/f people are more likely to look at more dogs if the person is alone

true

t/f younger dogs have shorter lengths of stay

true

dogs <_____ ____ of age adopted _____ times faster than older dogs

6 months

four