Influence of dog appeasing pheromone (DAP) on dogs housed in a long-term kennelling facility

INTRODUCTION: Kennel facilities are commonly acknowledged as a stressful environment for many domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). One therapeutic measure used to reduce anxiety in dogs is dog appeasing pheromone (DAP), which has been found effective in reducing stress-related behaviours in a number of...

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Autores principales: Grigg, E. K., Piehler, M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4567158/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26392901
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/vetreco-2014-000098
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author Grigg, E. K.
Piehler, M.
author_facet Grigg, E. K.
Piehler, M.
author_sort Grigg, E. K.
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Kennel facilities are commonly acknowledged as a stressful environment for many domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). One therapeutic measure used to reduce anxiety in dogs is dog appeasing pheromone (DAP), which has been found effective in reducing stress-related behaviours in a number of contexts. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: A pilot study was conducted to assess whether DAP would reduce frequency of stress-related behaviours in a group of eight dogs housed for teaching purposes in a long-term kennelling facility. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using video analysis, proportion of time spent in stress-related behaviours for six dogs fitted with DAP collars, versus two control dogs (without collars), was compared for the time before and during DAP exposure. RESULTS: No significant differences were found either in the proportion of time spent in stress-related behaviours in the baseline versus treatment periods or between the collared and control dogs in the change in proportion of time they spent in any of the focal behaviours in the baseline versus treatment periods. CONCLUSIONS: Possible reasons for these findings include an actual lack of effect of DAP on dogs housed in this long-term kennelling facility, an apparent lack of effect due to small sample size in this pilot study and high behavioural variation among individual dogs. Despite lack of a demonstrated effect of the DAP collars on these dogs, attention brought by this study to the behavioural issues seen in some of the dogs did have a positive impact, as it contributed to the development of an active, coordinated behavioural wellness and enrichment programme for the colony.
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spelling pubmed-45671582015-09-21 Influence of dog appeasing pheromone (DAP) on dogs housed in a long-term kennelling facility Grigg, E. K. Piehler, M. Vet Rec Open Research INTRODUCTION: Kennel facilities are commonly acknowledged as a stressful environment for many domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). One therapeutic measure used to reduce anxiety in dogs is dog appeasing pheromone (DAP), which has been found effective in reducing stress-related behaviours in a number of contexts. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: A pilot study was conducted to assess whether DAP would reduce frequency of stress-related behaviours in a group of eight dogs housed for teaching purposes in a long-term kennelling facility. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using video analysis, proportion of time spent in stress-related behaviours for six dogs fitted with DAP collars, versus two control dogs (without collars), was compared for the time before and during DAP exposure. RESULTS: No significant differences were found either in the proportion of time spent in stress-related behaviours in the baseline versus treatment periods or between the collared and control dogs in the change in proportion of time they spent in any of the focal behaviours in the baseline versus treatment periods. CONCLUSIONS: Possible reasons for these findings include an actual lack of effect of DAP on dogs housed in this long-term kennelling facility, an apparent lack of effect due to small sample size in this pilot study and high behavioural variation among individual dogs. Despite lack of a demonstrated effect of the DAP collars on these dogs, attention brought by this study to the behavioural issues seen in some of the dogs did have a positive impact, as it contributed to the development of an active, coordinated behavioural wellness and enrichment programme for the colony. BMJ Publishing Group 2015-02-07 /pmc/articles/PMC4567158/ /pubmed/26392901 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/vetreco-2014-000098 Text en Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
spellingShingle Research
Grigg, E. K.
Piehler, M.
Influence of dog appeasing pheromone (DAP) on dogs housed in a long-term kennelling facility
title Influence of dog appeasing pheromone (DAP) on dogs housed in a long-term kennelling facility
title_full Influence of dog appeasing pheromone (DAP) on dogs housed in a long-term kennelling facility
title_fullStr Influence of dog appeasing pheromone (DAP) on dogs housed in a long-term kennelling facility
title_full_unstemmed Influence of dog appeasing pheromone (DAP) on dogs housed in a long-term kennelling facility
title_short Influence of dog appeasing pheromone (DAP) on dogs housed in a long-term kennelling facility
title_sort influence of dog appeasing pheromone (dap) on dogs housed in a long-term kennelling facility
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4567158/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26392901
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/vetreco-2014-000098
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