Influence of group housing on social competence and adoption rate of dogs in a shelter
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2017
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Competências sociais são a chave para uma comunicação bem sucedida e uma vida interactiva. Cães foram seleccionados para variados fins nas várias partes do mundo, cumprindo hoje, largamente, a função de animais de companhia, tendo para isso que que se adaptar ao estilo de vida dos humanos, o que criou diversos problemas comportamentais, intra e interespécies. Este estudo pioneiro visa clarificar se cães alojados em grupo beneficiarão ao nível do desenvolvimento the competências sociais individuais promovendo uma melhor qualidade de vida, emaior número de adopções. Neste estudo, um total de 20 cães alojados em grupo foram filmados nas as suas rotinas diárias, durante 28 dias consecutivos no canil HTV em Hamburgo, Alemanha, durante o mês de Fevereiro, cada cão foi filmado três vezes três minutos diariamente. Com auxilio de um etograma, os comportamentos diádicos apresentados por seis cães foco, sendo estes os que estiveram presentes na maior dos dias. Posteriormente, três situações cão-cão e três cão-humano de um teste de temperamento foram executadas, com os seis cães foco e com seis cães alojados individualmente, com o intuito de avaliar se haveria diferenças nos comportamentos exibidos relativamente aos alojamentos. Houve uma correlação significativa estatisticmente entre o numero de interações no grupo (cão-cão e cão-humano) e a sua duração (p<0.001 para ambos), quanto mais curta a interação mais interações ocorreram, ao mesmo tempo houve uma relação negativa entre o numero the interações e os periodos de dormir ou descanso (p<0.001), quanto mais tempo era despendido a dormir ou descansar, menos as interações por dia e mais curtas estas se tornavam, tanto entre cães como com humanos. Os comportamentos mais exibidos pelos cães foram comportamentos de abordagem social, seguidos de comportamentos para alívio de conflito, sendo que os comportamentos agressivos foram raramente observado. Houve uma correlação linear positiva entre o numero de interações diádicas iniciadas e terminadas pelo cão foco (p<0.001), quanto mais interações o cão iniciava, mais interações o mesmo cão terminava, igualmente quanto mais parceiros diferentes um cão tivesse, menos era o tempo com cada um (p=0.003). Durante as situações do teste de temperamento houve uma significância estatística entre os diferentes grupos de alojamento (p<0.005) apenas numa situação (humano tropeça) e num comportamento (comportamento para alívio de conflito). No geral os resultados sugerem que o alojamento em grupo traz vantagens em comparação com o alojamento individual, pois é benefico em termos de desenvolvimento e/ou de melhoria das competências sociais em interações entre cães e com humanos, aumentando os niveis de tolerância ao stress e da qualidade de vida para cães de canil.
Social skills are the key for successful communication and an interactive life. Since dogs were bred for different purposes across the world, and widely fulfil the function of pets, they had to adapt to the human lifestyle, which created various behavioural problems, intra and interspecies. This pilot study intends to clarify if dog group housing in shelters can enhance the development of individual social skills and therefore create a better quality of life, subsequently leading to a higher adoption rate. In this study, a total of 20 group housed dogs were filmed in their daily routine, during 28 consecutive days at the HTV shelter in Hamburg, Germany, over the month of February. Each dog was filmed for three times three minutes per day, in a predefined order. Six focus dogs were chosen from the initial 20, namely those that were present during most of the filming, and their behaviours in dyadic interactions were evaluated according to an ethogram. Later on three dog-dog and three dog-human temperament test situation were performed with the six focus dogs and, conversely, with six single housed dogs, in order to evaluate if there was a difference in the displayed behaviours regarding the type of housing. There was a statistically significant correlation between the number of interactions in the group (dog-dog and dog-human) and their length (p<0.001 for both), the shorter the interactions the more interactions happened that day, at the same time there was a negative relationship between the number of interactions and the periods of sleep or resting (p<0.001), the more time was spent sleeping, the less interactions happened per day and the shorter each interaction was, either with dogs or with humans. The behaviours shown most by the dogs were behaviours from the group of social approach behavior, second came behaviours for de-escalation. Aggressive behavior was observed only very rarely. There was a positive linear correlation between the number of dyadic interactions started or stopped by an individual focus dog (p<0.001), the more a dog started interactions, the more the same dog stopped them, also the more different partners one dog had, the lower was the time spent with each of them (p=0.003). During the temperament test situations there was a statistical significance between the different groups of housing (p<0.005) just for one situation (person stumbling) and one behaviours (de-escalation). Overall the finding suggest that there is an advantage for dogs to be group housed in a shelter compared to be single housed, since it is beneficial in terms of development and/or improvement of individual social skills and competences for dog-dog and dog-human interaction, increasing stress tolerance levels and enhancing the overall quality of life for sheltered dogs.
Social skills are the key for successful communication and an interactive life. Since dogs were bred for different purposes across the world, and widely fulfil the function of pets, they had to adapt to the human lifestyle, which created various behavioural problems, intra and interspecies. This pilot study intends to clarify if dog group housing in shelters can enhance the development of individual social skills and therefore create a better quality of life, subsequently leading to a higher adoption rate. In this study, a total of 20 group housed dogs were filmed in their daily routine, during 28 consecutive days at the HTV shelter in Hamburg, Germany, over the month of February. Each dog was filmed for three times three minutes per day, in a predefined order. Six focus dogs were chosen from the initial 20, namely those that were present during most of the filming, and their behaviours in dyadic interactions were evaluated according to an ethogram. Later on three dog-dog and three dog-human temperament test situation were performed with the six focus dogs and, conversely, with six single housed dogs, in order to evaluate if there was a difference in the displayed behaviours regarding the type of housing. There was a statistically significant correlation between the number of interactions in the group (dog-dog and dog-human) and their length (p<0.001 for both), the shorter the interactions the more interactions happened that day, at the same time there was a negative relationship between the number of interactions and the periods of sleep or resting (p<0.001), the more time was spent sleeping, the less interactions happened per day and the shorter each interaction was, either with dogs or with humans. The behaviours shown most by the dogs were behaviours from the group of social approach behavior, second came behaviours for de-escalation. Aggressive behavior was observed only very rarely. There was a positive linear correlation between the number of dyadic interactions started or stopped by an individual focus dog (p<0.001), the more a dog started interactions, the more the same dog stopped them, also the more different partners one dog had, the lower was the time spent with each of them (p=0.003). During the temperament test situations there was a statistical significance between the different groups of housing (p<0.005) just for one situation (person stumbling) and one behaviours (de-escalation). Overall the finding suggest that there is an advantage for dogs to be group housed in a shelter compared to be single housed, since it is beneficial in terms of development and/or improvement of individual social skills and competences for dog-dog and dog-human interaction, increasing stress tolerance levels and enhancing the overall quality of life for sheltered dogs.
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Orientação : Raquel Matos ; orientação externa : Gonçalo da Graça Pereira, Barbara Schöning
Palavras-chave
MESTRADO INTEGRADO EM MEDICINA VETERINÁRIA, MEDICINA VETERINÁRIA, VETERINÁRIA, CÃES, COMPETÊNCIAS SOCIAIS, BEM-ESTAR ANIMAL, COMUNICAÇÃO, VETERINARY MEDICINE, DOGS, SOCIAL SKILLS, ANIMAL WELFARE, COMMUNICATION, CANÍDEOS, CANIDS