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Effects of early gentling and early environment on emotional development of puppies

Effects of early gentling and early environment on emotional development of puppies
Effects of early gentling and early environment on emotional development of puppies
In recent years much interest has been focused on early experiences and numerous studies have been carried out in order to understand their effects on the behaviour of adult animals. The aim of this preliminary study was to assess the effects of early gentling and early environment on the emotional stability of puppies. Forty-three dogs (16 females and 27 males) from seven litters were used. Four of these litters (in total 23 puppies) were raised in a professional breeding kennel, while the remaining litters lived in their owner’s home, in a family atmosphere. Half of every litter was gently handled daily from the 3rd day postpartum until the 21st. In order to assess the puppies’ emotionality, an isolation test followed by an arena test were conducted on every puppy at the age of 8 weeks. Video recording of the tests allowed the measurement of each puppy’s vocalisation and exploratory activity. Data were analysed with the Newmann-Keuls’ test comparing 4 groups: non-handled puppies raised in family (NHF); handled puppies raised in family (HF); non-handled puppies raised in a professional breeding kennel (NHB); handled puppies raised in a professional breeding kennel (HB). The results suggest that early environment strongly influences the emotional stability of puppies when put in isolation: latency to the first yelp was longer (p<0.05) in the HB group (89.46?66.42) compared to NHB (45.90?52.76), NHF (13.10?12.17) and HF (17.90?14.32), and in the NHB compared to NHF and HF; duration of vocalizations was shorter (p<0.05) in the HB (36.77?54.16) and NHB group (72.80?60.57) compared to NHF (149.78?19.52) and HF (132.50?45.24). Moreover, early gentling had a cumulative positive effect on the emotional development of puppies. For both environments, handled puppies were calmer. In fact, they showed longer latency to vocalise and handled puppies (HB=119.00?39.85; HF=97.12?33.56) spent significantly more time (seconds) in exploratory activity (p<0.05) compared to the corresponding non-handled puppies (NHB=64.90?34.06; NHF=57.00?26.61). Therefore, it is concluded that the deliberate inclusion of gentling during early puppyhood would be advantageous to the emotional development and welfare of the puppy, in particular for those at risk of limited or poor tactile stimulation in the early weeks.
dog, puppies, environment, experience, gentling, emotional development, welfare, puppy
0168-1591
294-304
Gazzano, A.
516c5070-9121-41f7-b06c-f7a0ce2a7f03
Mariti, C.
9e7dadfc-277b-426c-b4bd-0c99a4d0d08e
Notari, L.
78d8133d-ff30-407c-88b6-8d8e398d28d7
Sighieri, C.
ea6dd110-b2ed-4ec0-9d83-0d275a60f385
McBride, E.A.
8f13b829-a141-4b67-b2d7-08f839972646
Gazzano, A.
516c5070-9121-41f7-b06c-f7a0ce2a7f03
Mariti, C.
9e7dadfc-277b-426c-b4bd-0c99a4d0d08e
Notari, L.
78d8133d-ff30-407c-88b6-8d8e398d28d7
Sighieri, C.
ea6dd110-b2ed-4ec0-9d83-0d275a60f385
McBride, E.A.
8f13b829-a141-4b67-b2d7-08f839972646

Gazzano, A., Mariti, C., Notari, L., Sighieri, C. and McBride, E.A. (2008) Effects of early gentling and early environment on emotional development of puppies. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 110 (3-4), 294-304. (doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2007.05.007).

Record type: Article

Abstract

In recent years much interest has been focused on early experiences and numerous studies have been carried out in order to understand their effects on the behaviour of adult animals. The aim of this preliminary study was to assess the effects of early gentling and early environment on the emotional stability of puppies. Forty-three dogs (16 females and 27 males) from seven litters were used. Four of these litters (in total 23 puppies) were raised in a professional breeding kennel, while the remaining litters lived in their owner’s home, in a family atmosphere. Half of every litter was gently handled daily from the 3rd day postpartum until the 21st. In order to assess the puppies’ emotionality, an isolation test followed by an arena test were conducted on every puppy at the age of 8 weeks. Video recording of the tests allowed the measurement of each puppy’s vocalisation and exploratory activity. Data were analysed with the Newmann-Keuls’ test comparing 4 groups: non-handled puppies raised in family (NHF); handled puppies raised in family (HF); non-handled puppies raised in a professional breeding kennel (NHB); handled puppies raised in a professional breeding kennel (HB). The results suggest that early environment strongly influences the emotional stability of puppies when put in isolation: latency to the first yelp was longer (p<0.05) in the HB group (89.46?66.42) compared to NHB (45.90?52.76), NHF (13.10?12.17) and HF (17.90?14.32), and in the NHB compared to NHF and HF; duration of vocalizations was shorter (p<0.05) in the HB (36.77?54.16) and NHB group (72.80?60.57) compared to NHF (149.78?19.52) and HF (132.50?45.24). Moreover, early gentling had a cumulative positive effect on the emotional development of puppies. For both environments, handled puppies were calmer. In fact, they showed longer latency to vocalise and handled puppies (HB=119.00?39.85; HF=97.12?33.56) spent significantly more time (seconds) in exploratory activity (p<0.05) compared to the corresponding non-handled puppies (NHB=64.90?34.06; NHF=57.00?26.61). Therefore, it is concluded that the deliberate inclusion of gentling during early puppyhood would be advantageous to the emotional development and welfare of the puppy, in particular for those at risk of limited or poor tactile stimulation in the early weeks.

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Published date: April 2008
Keywords: dog, puppies, environment, experience, gentling, emotional development, welfare, puppy

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 55194
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/55194
ISSN: 0168-1591
PURE UUID: 1fc8d1a8-a5f9-4a36-a528-3aa015d3892a

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Date deposited: 04 Aug 2008
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 10:53

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Contributors

Author: A. Gazzano
Author: C. Mariti
Author: L. Notari
Author: C. Sighieri
Author: E.A. McBride

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