Constant Din Of Barking Causes Stress, Behavior Changes In Dogs In Shelters

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Constant Din Of Barking Causes Stress, Behavior Changes In Dogs In Shelters

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Constant Din Of Barking Causes Stress, Behavior Changes In Dogs In Shelters

28 Jul 2006

 

If your neighbor's barking dog drives you crazy, pity the employees

of the nation's animal shelters, where the noise produced by howling,

barking and yapping dogs often exceeds that produced by a jackhammer.

 

And pity the poor dogs.

 

" While employees may wear hearing protectors, dogs don't have that

option, " said Crista Coppola, an adjunct instructor in the department

of veterinary medicine at the University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign. " Excessive noise in shelters can physically stress

dogs and lead to behavioral, physiological and anatomical responses. "

 

In a paper published in the spring issue of the Journal of Applied

Animal Welfare Science, Coppola and co-authors R. Mark Enns and

Temple Grandin, both at Colorado State University, describe noise

measurements made at an animal shelter built in 1999.

 

" Noise levels regularly exceeded the measuring capacity of our noise

dosimeter, which was 118.9 decibels, " said Coppola, who is also a

behavior fellow at the Midwest office of the American Society for the

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Urbana. " These levels were higher

than that produced by a jackhammer (110 decibels). The Occupational

Safety and Health Administration recommends hearing protection be

worn at noise levels above 90 decibels. "

 

A common noise problem in shelters occurs when dogs are placed in

gated kennels along the perimeter of a large room. The dogs receive

negative stimulation when they see other dogs, especially when they

see other dogs receiving attention.

 

" Dogs are a very social species, " Coppola said. " They want to be

around other dogs. When they see other dogs, but can't get to them,

you hear a lot of frustration barking back and forth. "

 

A better design places dogs in individual rooms surrounding a common

play area, Coppola said. Each room has two doors: One leads into the

play area and the other - in the opposite wall - is used by shelter

staff to access the room for adoption visits.

 

" Two or more dogs could be admitted to the play area at a time, "

Coppola said. " This is a wonderful way to exercise the dogs and let

them receive the social interaction they want and need. "

 

Cohabitation is another way to reduce both noise and stress in dogs,

Coppola said. Dogs housed in social groups vocalize less, sleep more

and show fewer abnormal behaviors. Cohabitation has worked well in

Germany and Japan, but has been slow to catch on in the U.S.

 

Retrofitting shelters can be costly, but even in new construction,

noise-abatement designs are often overlooked. Fortunately, in

addition to physical surroundings, there are other ways to reduce

stress in dogs.

 

In a separate study, published in the spring issue of the journal

Physiology and Behavior, Coppola, Enns and Grandin examined the

effect of human contact on stress response of shelter dogs.

 

In the study, dogs were treated to scheduled human contact, which

included grooming, petting and playing, for an average of 45 minutes

on their second day in the shelter. A control group did not received

scheduled human contact.

 

To objectively compare stress levels, the researchers measured the

amount of salivary cortisol, a hormone recognized as a major

indicator of stress response. Dogs that engaged in human contact had

much lower cortisol levels on day three than dogs that did not engage

in human contact.

 

" Day three is usually the most stressful, " Coppola said. " The dogs

have not yet begun to acclimate, and have reached their tolerance

level of responding to unpredictable surroundings. "

 

Extra human contact was influential in reducing the stressful

effects of shelter housing, Coppola said. " Keeping dogs behaviorally

healthy helps keep them physically healthy. And healthy, unstressed

dogs have a tendency to be more calm and relaxed. "

 

Excessive noise not only affects shelter animals and employees, it

can affect potential adopters, as well.

 

" Visitors are sometimes driven off by excessive noise, " Coppola

said. " As we work to reduce that noise, we ask potential adopters to

please bear it for the amount of time necessary to find an

appropriate dog. Your new pet will thank you. "

 

###

 

Funding was provided by Grandin Livestock Inc. and the Eugene V. and

Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust.

 

Contact: James E. Kloeppel

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

 

Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=48083

 

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