Search Results (61)

New Zealand working farm dogs can struggle to maintain their body weight and condition during periods of high workload, despite substantial energy intake, highlighting the need to optimise energy balance. One potential strategy for reducing overall energy demands is to reduce energy expenditure for thermoregulation, particularly during colder conditions, which may improve both recovery and energy utilisation. This study investigated whether wearing coats influenced the sleep behaviour, activity, and apparent nutrient digestibility of outdoor-kennelled dogs. Eight adult working-breed dogs (n = 8) were studied using a randomised cross-over design, in which dogs wore a coat or no coat during overnight periods (15:00–09:00 h). Behaviour was monitored using triaxial accelerometers and classified using a validated machine learning model, while apparent nutrient digestibility was determined from pooled faecal samples. Dogs spent more time sleeping when wearing a coat compared to no coat (48.1% vs. 40.0%, p = 0.008), with the effect being most evident during cooler evening hours. Time spent resting and being active was reduced when coats were worn (p < 0.05), while overall activity did not differ (p = 0.856). No differences were observed in apparent digestibility of energy or nutrients (p > 0.05), although protein digestibility tended to be higher when coats were worn (p = 0.079). These findings suggest that coats can improve sleep behaviour, likely through improved thermal comfort. While this study was conducted in research dogs under relatively mild temperature conditions, the results indicate the potential welfare and functional benefits for working farm dogs. Full article

This study examined the effects of environmental conditions, behavioral history, management practices, and personality traits on the operational performance of search and rescue (SAR) dogs and dogs admitted to SAR certification testing. Thirty-two handlers completed a questionnaire collecting demographic data, as well as information on their dogs’ behavioral history, management practices, and personality descriptors. Each dog–handler unit also undertook a search trial consisting of locating a hidden person in a wooded area, which was evaluated both by professional instructors and the handlers through ratings of critical behavioral indicators. Objective measurements were obtained through a weather station and GPS devices. Handlers described their dogs mainly in terms of work-relevant traits, such as socio-cognitive engagement, assertiveness, and arousal. The performance evaluation form was practical and efficient, though the Distraction parameter may require refinement, and handler ratings suggested a self-reporting bias. Temperature and wind speed were negatively associated with performance, whereas higher humidity was positively associated with it. Performance was also associated with litter size, age at adoption, dog experience, and management-related factors. Finally, speed, ground coverage, and a canine profile characterized by high arousal and reactivity were strong determinants of good search performance (|ρ| ≥ 0.3; p < 0.05). Although these findings require confirmation in larger samples, search performance appears to be a multifactorial construct shaped by the interplay of extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Defining the contribution of each factor could help optimize performance and dogs’ welfare. Full article

Herding dogs play an important role in the management of herds of sheep and cattle, and their effectiveness depends on various genetic and environmental factors, and the choice of training method. The aim of this study is to explain how these factors determine the effectiveness of herding work, the level of stress and psychological comfort experienced by the dogs, as well as their physical health. The study also examines the choice of training method, the influence of socialisation and relationship with the handler, as well as the living conditions. Information on the welfare of herding dogs and the factors that influence this welfare were obtained based on a search of PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Scopus using defined keywords. Research indicates that positive reinforcement, early socialisation and trust-building with the handler increase performance, reduce behaviour indicative of any stress the dogs may be experiencing, and improve psychological wellbeing. Selective breeding has developed herding predispositions, including herding instinct and cognitive abilities, at the expense of predatory instinct. Understanding the genetic and environmental factors associated with wellbeing, and using ethical training methods benefits both dogs and livestock by allowing herding dogs to fully realise their natural behaviours. Full article

For millennia, cats have been valued worldwide as biological agents for rodent control. Our previous qualitative research found that Australian dairy farmers valued cats for rodent management and companionship, while also highlighting welfare and operational challenges when populations were unmanaged. We therefore argued for a structured, humane management approach. Critics questioned our methodology and portrayed our publications as a blanket endorsement of placing cats on farms. Here, we clarify the scope and limitations of our earlier work and reaffirm that unmanaged cats can create significant risks, including disease transmission, poor welfare, environmental concerns, and psychological stress for farmers and veterinary professionals tasked with lethal control. Responsible management, through sterilization, feeding, healthcare, and formal recognition of some cats as working animals, has the potential to reduce these harms while aligning with farmer values and food safety requirements. Farmers also supported barn/working-cat programs to replace sterilized cats lost through attrition and because they recognized the wellbeing impact on shelter staff required to humanely kill healthy cats. While more research is needed to empirically examine the benefits of the humane management of farm cats, alternatives to cats suggested by critics, such as owls or dogs, lack equivalent evidence or feasibility in dairy systems. Given that cats already exist on many farms, we conclude that responsible management offers a pragmatic, humane, and One Welfare-aligned pathway while longer-term studies are undertaken. Full article

Dogs show exceptional olfactory sensitivity and are widely used in medical, rescue, military, and forensic applications, yet the determinants of individual and breed-level scent-work performance remain incompletely characterized. This review integrates evidence from the anatomy and physiology of the canine olfactory organ, neurobiological mechanisms of odor transduction and coding, and links between olfaction, memory, and emotion, alongside molecular genetics, evolution, domestication, and selective breeding. We synthesize findings indicating that complex nasal turbinates and specialized airflow patterns enhance odorant capture, while olfactory bulb circuitry and downstream connections to limbic and frontal networks support discrimination, learning, and affective modulation. Comparative and breed-focused studies suggest that skull morphology and breeding priorities can alter olfactory capacity, with shortened nasal anatomy associated with reduced functional potential in some lines. In applied contexts, detection success is strongly shaped by behavioral traits such as motivation, persistence, independence, and reward value, as well as by physical condition and environmental stressors that can impair search efficiency. Emerging literature further suggests that the gastrointestinal and upper airway microbiome, together with diet, housing, temperature, and workload, may influence sensory and cognitive readiness, although direct causal links to detection outcomes remain limited. Overall, canine olfactory performance reflects interactions among genetic–anatomical capacity, neurobehavioral factors, and environment, underscoring the value of standardized selection, training, welfare management, and future integrative research. Full article

Dogs are deeply social, built to stay in touch with others of their kind. In cities, though, most now live as single dogs. Housing rules, work schedules, and constant supervision have constrained their social environment. They still meet other dogs, but the meetings are short, managed, and rarely turn into real bonds. This review tries to pull together what is known about how such limited contact affects canine welfare and emotional balance. The sources come mostly from ethology, psychology, and urban studies, published between 2010 and 2025, and include comparisons between urban pets and free-ranging dogs that still organise their own social lives. Across studies, the pattern is similar: when dogs lose steady companions, they also lose the kind of social buffering that once helped them recover from stress. Over time, this does not always look like distress—more often it shows up as quiet tension, watchfulness, or an overdependence on human cues. The evidence points to social deprivation as a slow, structural welfare issue rather than an occasional problem. Meaningful improvement may therefore require moving beyond control and training alone, toward conditions that allow dogs to form small, stable circles of familiar peers that support lower arousal and more reliable recovery. Full article

In recent years, requests for animal-assisted interventions (AAI) from medical institutions and welfare facilities have increased. Dogs are the most commonly used animals in AAI. Dogs that pass the “therapy dog” aptitude test can work in AAI. In previous research, we identified the Canine Behavior Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ) factors common among dogs that passed the aptitude test. Using these factors, we developed the TC-BARQ, a screening questionnaire for therapy dogs that included 51 C-BARQ surveys. In this study, we conducted TC-BARQ screenings and compared the characteristics of dogs that passed and failed the aptitude test. We collected TC-BARQ data points from aptitude test examinees of the local AAI Dog Association. Each dog is identified by its breed, sex, neutering status, and whether it lives with another dog at home. For each question, we identified factors that differed between dogs that passed and those that failed. As a result, differences emerged in the presence of family dogs, particularly in behaviors related to aggression toward strangers and other dogs, as well as excitability toward people and situations. Continued surveillance is essential, but this study provides important information on selecting “therapy dogs”. Full article

The enrollment of working dogs in various fields is widespread throughout the world. Training adult working dogs could be stressful to dogs, which is why it is important to assess their response to these conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether basic training in adult working dogs can be stressful. Cortisol and lactate concentrations were measured at three time points: T0, arrival at the training field; T1, immediately after training; and T2, 60 min after training. Stress-related behaviours were also recorded. None of the dogs showed behavioural signs of stress, such as yawning, barking, or stereotyped movements, although some displayed behaviours such as sniffing, licking their lips, keeping their ears back, or lifting their legs, which may also indicate stress. Cortisol concentrations were highest at T0, decreased at T1, and rose again at T2, while lactate concentrations increased at T1 and returned to baseline at T2. These findings suggest that the training itself was not a significant stressor, whereas the environment prior to training may have contributed to anticipatory stress. Full article

This study aimed to validate the 9-point body condition score (BCS) system in sled dogs by assessing its reliability and by comparing it with objective measures including real-time ultrasonography, plicometry, and anthropometry. Twenty-seven Siberian Huskies (11 females, 16 males) from three sled dog teams were assessed for BCS by three trained veterinarians and their respective mushers. Intra-observer reliability was substantial (Krippendorff’s α = 0.734), while agreement between expert raters (Kα = 0.580) and between the expert rater and mushers (Kα = 0.691) was moderate, with mushers tending to overestimate the BCS of their own dogs (median difference = −0.5). BCS showed positive correlations with body mass index (BMI) and subcutaneous fat at the chest and flank via plicometry (for all: p < 0.05). Ultrasonography showed weak correlations with BCS, likely due to the different anatomical layers evaluated and the distinctively high muscle-to-fat ratio typical of sled dogs. Both univariate and multivariate analyses revealed sex- and neutering-related differences in body composition, with males generally presenting larger skeletal dimensions and neutering influencing patterns of fat distribution. These findings support the reliability and field applicability of the BCS system when used by trained evaluators, highlighting the importance of considering sex and anatomical site when assessing body condition in athletic dogs. The 9-point BCS, combined with accessible objective tools, represents a consistent, cost-effective method for monitoring body condition in long-distance performance sled dogs. Full article

The number of puppies imported to the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) is increasing, as are concerns about the legality, welfare and potential disease risks associated with their trade. This study aimed to use an online survey to collect questionnaire data from UK residents about their awareness and knowledge of EU Pet Passports, illegal puppy importation, and dog-borne exotic diseases and the risks they might pose to UK-resident dogs and people. Valid responses were collected from n = 7184 UK residents, mainly current dog owners. We identified substantial knowledge gaps relating to EU Pet Passports, how puppies might be moved across Europe, and the legal age of importation. Awareness of exotic diseases was poor; knowledge about the risks they posed was even poorer, particularly in relation to dog–human transmission. With some respondents not even being confident that they had heard of rabies, there is substantial work to do to ensure that the UK canine and human populations remain safe in the face of significant welfare and exotic disease threats. These knowledge deficits may facilitate the burgeoning illegal trade in puppies across the EU. Legal change may be required to prevent consumers from unintentionally supporting poor welfare sources of puppies. Full article

Guide dogs are essential in supporting the autonomy of blind and visually impaired individuals. Austria is the first country to implement a legally mandated, two-stage certification protocol for the official recognition of guide dogs, assessed by an independent authority. The first stage includes two evaluation phases: the dog guides its familiar trainer (Phase 1) and then an unfamiliar blind tester (Phase 2). While Phase 2 ensures an objective assessment of guiding performance, it may also introduce stress due to the unfamiliar handler and separation from the trainer that could impact welfare and behaviour. This study aimed to evaluate whether Phase 2 of the Austrian evaluation protocol elicits higher stress than Phase 1 in guide dogs and, hence, needs to be refined in this regard by comparing physiological and behavioural responses between the two test phases. Fourteen guide dogs were assessed during real evaluations. Salivary cortisol was collected before the evaluation day and at several time points on the evaluation day (before and after each phase). Behavioural responses were coded from video recordings of the first 5 and 15 min of each phase, including stress-related behaviours, task-related performance behaviours, and handler behaviours. Cortisol levels did not differ significantly between the phases. Dogs turned around significantly more often in Phase 2, potentially seeking reassurance, but showed a non-significant trend toward fewer stress-related behaviours. Verbal praise occurred more frequently with the unfamiliar tester. These findings suggest that the current evaluation protocol does not induce substantial physiological or behavioural stress when dogs are guided by an unfamiliar tester, supporting its continued use as a welfare-conscious and objective certification approach that could also potentially serve as a model for other countries. Full article

Many stressors have been identified for shelter dogs, and while stress is a natural physical response, exposure to shelter stressors has been implicated in poor dog welfare including the formation of maladaptive behaviors that manifest as unappealing responses toward humans. Inappropriate behavioral reactions to humans lead to longer lengths of stay in the shelter, so identifying ways to reduce these responses to human presence would not only benefit the immediate welfare of the dog but could also decrease the amount of time the dog spends in the shelter. Previous studies have shown that response-independent food paired with an auditory stimulus reduced behaviors that likely prolong time to adoption; however, these interventions used an explicit discriminative stimulus where a more easily deployed design would be effective without requiring an additional stimulus to precede the food. The purpose of the present study was to extend that work to evaluate the effect of noncontingent reinforcement on reducing behavioral reactions to humans in the presence both of the experimenter and other people. Overall, the intervention was effective at decreasing human-directed behavioral responses but did not decrease the dogs’ length of stay. Changes in reactive behaviors appear to be limited to the presence of the experimenter during the first and last trials, with improvements generalizing to non-experimenters only for two behaviors: staying in the front half of the kennel and facing the kennel front. Our recommendation for shelters is that this intervention would be most effective at improving behaviors directed at a person delivering treats to the dog. Full article

Rodents play a role in the spread of disease and cause immense damage to produce and infrastructure, leading to food safety risks and economic losses for farmers. Farmers typically control rodent populations using rodenticide baits, which are expensive, and, when used incorrectly, are inefficient, and pose a risk to children, pets and wildlife. Cats may offer a safer, more efficient and cheaper option for farmers, but concerns for cats’ impact on wildlife and possible negative outcomes for their own welfare may lead to them being underutilized. Through semi-structured interviews with 15 people from 9 dairy farms in two regions, we explored the value cats have to dairy farmers and the perceived impact of the Australian Tax Office making working cat care tax deductible. The data gathered during interviews indicated that uncontrolled rodent populations have a detrimental impact on dairy farms and showed that farmers valued having cats due to their efficiency in pest control, monetary savings and companionship. They struggled to cover the cost of cat care, however, particularly costs like sterilization and vaccination, which are necessary to enhance cat welfare and protect native wildlife from diseases and cat overpopulation. Our findings demonstrate that dairy farmers value the working cats on their farms for rodent control. Allowing cat care to be tax deductible may enable farmers to provide care such as sterilization, vaccination and food, potentially improving farmers’ wellbeing and cat welfare whilst reducing cats’ impact on wildlife. It is strongly recommended that relevant industry bodies gather additional evidence from both dairy and other types of farming operations, and if results are consistent with the findings from our study, they lobby state and federal governments to consider that cats kept on farms for rodent control be considered tax deductible as they are in the US and UK and are also exempt from state cat registration and permit costs as working dogs are in Australia. Full article

In Europe, there is a growing concern for animal welfare, encompassing both their rights and health. Consequently, identifying biomarkers that predict serious pathological conditions has become crucial in veterinary medicine. The Buccal Micronucleus Cytome (BMCyt) assay is a minimally invasive method that uses biomarkers to evaluate DNA damage and chromosomal instability, using exfoliated buccal cells. A rising frequency of anomalies, such as micronuclei formation, strongly indicates an elevated risk of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, or accelerated aging, potentially originating from exposure to genotoxins and cytotoxins. This method has been validated in humans, but very little research has been conducted on animals. This work aims to provide a detailed description of an optimized method for collecting buccal exfoliated cells in dogs and to characterize a biomarker related to genomic damage using optical and fluorescent microscopy. Samples from dogs in breeding kennels, including pregnant animals, were tested for chromosomal instability. By following procedures similar to those used in humans, we were able to detect and count major nuclear abnormalities. The percentage of micronuclei was higher compared to other studies. Technical aspects, such as avoiding artifacts and ensuring prior training of the operator, must be taken into account. This work validated the BMCyt method for collecting and processing samples in dogs, potentially enhancing the understanding of micronuclei as biomarkers for pre-pathological states in canines. Full article

Despite an increase in research into cat and dog cognition, behavior, and welfare in recent decades, it is unclear whether pet owners are aware of recent advances in our understanding of cats and dogs. Misunderstandings about the reasons for animal behavior can lead to negative welfare outcomes for the animal, and potentially distress for the owner, so it is important for owners to understand the latest science on animal behavior. Current and former pet owners (N = 224) completed an online survey rating their agreement with a series of statements about cat and dog behavior. After completing the survey, participants were provided with a document describing the latest scientific knowledge about each of the statements in the survey. For both species, participant beliefs generally accord with the latest scientific knowledge, but there is evidence of remaining beliefs about aspects of dominance training theory in dogs, and the belief that cats are low-maintenance pets. These findings can be used by trainers and behaviorists to help educate owners about pet needs, working from the owner’s baseline knowledge and debunking persistent myths. Full article