Thesis
Qualitative Behavioural Assessment of human enrichment and canine socialisation in shelter dogs
Honours, Murdoch University
2014
Abstract
Domestic dogs play a role in the modern world, in a multitude of areas, most commonly as companion animals. Although almost 90 % of dog owners consider their pet to be a member of the family, there is still a large number of dogs adding to the issue of unwanted companion animals. In 2012/13, RSPCA Australia received almost 50,000 dogs nationally into their shelters (RSPCA 2014). Due to the stress that dogs experience when placed in a shelter, they can develop behavioural issues as a means to cope with their new environment, not only does this seriously affect their welfare, because behaviour is an indicator of welfare, but it also decreases the likelihood of that dog being re-homed successfully, because adopters prefer dogs that display friendly, calm and playful behaviour. We tested whether providing enriched human interaction (playing, patting and giving basic commands) every other day or providing canine socialisation (paired walking) everyday developed the display of more positive behaviour in shelter dogs. We used Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA) to quantify and compare the behavioural expression of each dog, using footage of the dogs before and after their treatment period. The observers achieved significant agreement in their assessment of the behavioural expression of the dogs before and after treatment with dogs scored as more ‘excited’, ‘playful’, ‘happy’, ‘interested’ and ‘friendly’ after treatment, whilst a behavioural ethogram showed no difference in the behavioural repertoire of the dogs before and after treatment. This indicates that QBA is not only a practical option for the welfare assessment of dogs, but a reflection of an animal’s true emotional state. The addition of human interaction in particular, to the practices of a shelter is a method by which the dogs can improve and display more positive behaviour, therefore improving their welfare.
Details
- Title
- Qualitative Behavioural Assessment of human enrichment and canine socialisation in shelter dogs
- Authors/Creators
- Morgan Gray
- Contributors
- Teresa Collins (Supervisor) - Murdoch University, Centre for Animal Production and HealthSarah Wickham (Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Murdoch University; Honours
- Identifiers
- 991005623669707891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Murdoch University
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Note
- A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Animal Science.
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