Dogs have lived with humans for thousands of years. They have been used for hunting, guarding, herding, and many other tasks, but today they primarily serve as companions. Although their lives today may seem easier than that of their ancestors, they still face many stressors – including trips to the vet.
A few years ago, researchers in France showed that how a dog owner treats the vet has an impact on their pet’s stress levels. The study showed that negative owner behavior, such as scolding, increased the dog’s anxiety during veterinary examinations.
But before our recent research at Queen’s University Belfast, no one had examined the effects of owner stress on their dogs in a controlled environment. Our study differs from the above research, as it specifically looks at the effect of the owner’s stress, measured through changes in heart rate, on the stress experienced by their dog at the vet.
Twenty-eight owners and their dogs participated in our experiment. Both owners and dogs wore heart rate monitors throughout the experiment so we could monitor and record their heart rates and heart rate variability to measure stress levels.
We then exposed owners to either a stressful or stress-relieving intervention and monitored its effects on them as well as their dogs. The stressful intervention consisted of a digital stress test that required owners to perform a mental arithmetic task as well as a verbal presentation task. The stress-relieving intervention was a five-minute guided breathing meditation video.
We found that as the dogs got used to the veterinary hospital environment, their heart rates decreased. This suggests that veterinarians should allow time for dogs to come to the clinic before examining them. This will not only reduce their stress, but may also improve the validity of any examination or test, as measures such as heart and respiratory rates can increase as a result of increased stress.
We also found that the change in an owner’s heart rate from before to during the experiment could predict the change in their dog’s heart rate. If the owner’s heart rate increased or decreased during the experiment, their dog’s heart rate was likely to increase or decrease accordingly.
These results suggest that dogs can recognize stress in their owners, and this can influence their own stress levels, through the process of “emotional contagion.” It is a phenomenon where people and other animals can intentionally or unintentionally “capture” or mimic the emotions and behavior of those around them.
It may also indicate that dogs look to their owners to gauge their reactions to new environments. Owners were asked not to interact with their dogs during the duration of the experiment. Therefore any assessment of owner stress by their dogs was done without direct communication between owner and pet.
So what does this mean for the average dog owner? If our stress has the potential to affect our dogs, this should be considered when visiting the veterinarian. If veterinarians help owners feel more calm when visiting the clinic, it may help their dogs feel more comfortable as well.
A holistic approach to veterinary care, where the animals, their owners and the environment are all taken into account, is likely to have the best welfare outcomes.
While our research focused primarily on the bond between dogs and their owners, a recent study examining dog behavior found that the smell of the sweat of a stressed human who was unfamiliar to the dog led to cognitive biases. During that time it affected the dog’s learning and cognition. Examination The test measures whether an animal is in a positive or negative emotional state, and whether they are likely to make decisions with an optimistic or pessimistic outlook. This suggests that dogs can be affected by the stress of strangers as well as their owners.
It’s clear from our latest research that dogs are perceptive animals who are influenced by the world and people around them. People caring for or working with dogs should keep in mind that their own stress can affect their dogs.
