Stress and Happiness in Dogs: You Should Know It When You See It Dr. James C. Ha Research Professor, UW

Stress and Happiness in Dogs: You Should Know It When You See It Dr. James C. Ha Research Professor, UW animalbehaviorassociateswa.com (c) 2014 James...
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Stress and Happiness in Dogs: You Should Know It When You See It Dr. James C. Ha Research Professor, UW animalbehaviorassociateswa.com

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

James C. Ha, PhD, CAAB • PhD, Colorado State Univ., Zoology 1989 • Research Faculty, U of Washington 1990 – Research Professor 2013

• Research on social behavior of highly cognitive animals: primates, orca, crows, dogs, cats • In-home companion animal behavior practice since 1999

– Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Animal Behavior Society, since 2005 animalbehaviorassociateswa.com

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

Western Pet-centricity The popularity of dogs and cats as companions Why companion animals? • Contact with nature? Replacement for large families?

Why dogs? • Appropriate evolutionary, genetic characteristics – Diurnal activity, highly social, useful: removing pests & finding food

• Appropriate learning & cognitive ability – Control of hunting and aggression, obedience, housetraining

• Coevolution of humans and dogs, >20M years (c) 2014 James C. Ha animalbehaviorassociateswa.com

Western Pet-centricity The popularity of dogs and cats as companions

What is it about cats, then? – Useful, and easily domesticated… also, easier…

(c) 2014 James C. Ha animalbehaviorassociateswa.com

Why Do We Care About Stress in Our Companions? • Stress frequently leads to anxiety. • Stress and anxiety is frequently over-looked in dogs. • Chronic anxiety is connected to health issues and psychological wellbeing. • A common consequence of anxiety is aggression. (c) 2014 James C. Ha animalbehaviorassociateswa.com

What is Stress? A physiological condition in response to environmental or psychological pressures (“stressors”). Accompanied by, but not limited to, elevations in cortisol hormone, changes in heart rate, and concurrent behavioral changes. Effects may be significantly more profound if occurring during critical periods: e.g. 3-16 weeks of age (“Kennel-dog syndrome”), 7-9 months, and 18-24 months.

Major contributing factor: lack of socialization (c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Detecting Anxiety, and Aggression • Frequently, “aggression” is simply rough-and-tumble play • How to tell Play from Anxiety from “True Aggression”? • Body Language!

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Reading Body Language • Posture How is the dog standing? Is he leaning forward or backward?

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Reading Body Language • Posture • Eyes

Are his pupils dilated? Is he looking away from you?

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Reading Body Language • Posture • Eyes • Ears

Are his ears relaxed or stiff? Are they flat against his head?

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Reading Body Language • Posture • Eyes • Ears • Tail

How is he holding his tail? Is it high? Low? Moving?

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Reading Body Language • Posture • Eyes • Ears • Tail • Mouth

What does his mouth look like? Can you see his teeth?

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Reading Body Language • Posture • Eyes • Ears • Tail • Mouth • Hackles

Is the hair on his back sticking up (the hackles)?

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Reading Body Language • Posture • Eyes • Ears • Tail • Mouth • Hackles • Vocalizations

What noises is he making? Barking? Whining? Growling?

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

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What is the Dog Saying? Playful Bowing Direct Relaxed Moving Open

Anxious Posture Crouching Eyes Averted Ears Back Tail Down Mouth Retracted horizontal Hackles Relaxed Flat VocalizationsBarking Whining (c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Aggressive Weight forward Direct Forward Up Retracted vertically Raised Growling

Playful

16

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Anxious

17

from Charles Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1859) (c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Aggressive

18

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Signs of stress

(esp when >1 exhibited): • • • • • • •

Dilated pupils Shaking, yawning and scratching. Refusing food and treats or refusal to open mouth. Hiding and disobeying orders. Licking lips, drooling and sneezing. Sweaty paws Avoiding eye contact, keeping tail between legs or acting shy. • Exhibiting over activeness or under activity. • Biting, growling or snarling. (c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Signs of stress

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Signs of stress

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

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How to quantify stress Cortisol • Historically, the classic measure • Blood, salivary, urinary, fecal: time frame for sample • But few repeatable conclusions • Issues include: – – – –

Sampling stress Dramatic time of day differences Sensitivity of assays Lack of correlation with other data, like behavior

• New approaches use more sophisticated assays of cortisol precursors: less sensitive to variability (c) 2014 James C. Ha

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How to quantify stress Heart rate (and respiration) • Also a classic measure • Technical issues in recording without disturbance: telemetry (inexpensive Polar “watches”) • And again: few repeatable conclusions • Issues include: – Sampling stress – Dramatic time of day differences – Lack of correlation with other data, like behavior

• New approaches use measures of variability in HR: better, more consistent results (c) 2014 James C. Ha

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How to quantify stress The Flip Side: How happy is the dog? • Positive hormones – – – –

Oxytocin, lots of press lately Beta-endorphins Prolactin Dopamine

• Many studies of dog effect on human physiology; • Almost none on human effects on dog: – Odendaal and Meintjes, 2003 – Positive interactions produced increases in positive hormones, but no decrease in cortisol in dogs (only humans) (c) 2014 James C. Ha

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How to Minimize Stress and Anxiety Minimizing stress in short-term: • Handler body language

• No interactions on leash • Understanding (stress) body language Minimizing stress over long-term: • Choosing the right dog • SOCIALIZATION! (Prior to 2 years old) • History: previous interactions and training (c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Contributing Factors: Short-term • Lack of Escape Routes • Trigger-stacking • Stress plays a role at all levels

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Lack of Escape Routes • “Bite” or “Flight” – What has worked in the past? – What are the genes saying? – Risk increases as opportunities for other reactions decrease

• Importance of Escape Routes

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Risk

Trigger-stacking A Primary Principle! Every dog has multiple factors that increase anxiety or decrease the threshold to a behavior • Arousal level: emotional excitement • Fears and phobias: loud noises, children, men, fast-moving objects • Lack of escape route, crowding These “stack” until behavior is released! (c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Trigger-stacking Cautions: • Late in day • Crowding (people or dogs) • Common triggers: children, small dogs, loud noises • Reactive breeds (c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Importance of Environmental Control Or, How Your Dog Controls You! • All animals need a certain amount of control over their environment, including social environment. • Social control is exerted through manipulation of learning contingencies. – By use of positive and negative responses, another person (or dog!) can alter your behavior. (c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Importance of Environmental Control The Four Fundamental Quadrants of Learning/Training Type of Stimulus

Stimulus Is:

Reward(+)

Aversive(-)

Presented Positive Reinforcement

Positive Punishment

Removed Extinction, Negative Punishment

Negative Reinforcement

(c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Importance of Environmental Control Or, How Your Dog Controls You! • Just as you train your dog (or spouse) using these four types of learning, animals manipulate their social environment in the same way. • Using learning mechanisms do not require conscious thought. • Understand these methods: your dog will attempt to control its environment by using them. (c) 2014 James C. Ha animalbehaviorassociateswa.com

Importance of Environmental Control The handler-dog feedback loop • The handler sends signals (communication) and consequences (rewards, aversives) to the dog, and the dog responds with signals and consequences itself. • I call this a Training Loop, or Co-Training (after the concept of co-evolution). • Importance is allowing dogs to have some control of their (social) environment. (c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Summary Take-home Messages • Stress is an important, and subtle, issue • Stress can be recognized by physical cues • Stress can be minimized: triggerstacking, escape routes, social control • Good handlers are involved in a feedback loop with their dogs, constantly providing and receiving information. (c) 2014 James C. Ha

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Understanding Anxiety Behavior in Dogs

James C. Ha, PhD, CAAB Animal Behavior Associates of Washington, LLC

Check out my new 1-year, online UW Certificate in Applied Animal Behavior [email protected] (c) 2014 James C. Ha

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