Thielke Lauren E, Rosenlicht Giovanna, Saturn Sarina R, Udell Monique A R
Human-Animal Interaction Lab, Animal Rangeland Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States.
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Portland, Portland, OR, United States.
Front Psychol. 2017 Sep 29;8:1699. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01699. eCollection 2017.
The present study explored the effects of intranasal oxytocin, a naturally occurring hormone, on the behavior of pet dogs during an attachment test. Each dog participated in two testing sessions. On one visit saline was administered nasally, and on another, oxytocin was administered nasally. For half of the dogs ( = 20), solutions were administered with a Mucosal Atomization Device (MAD) and for half of the dogs ( = 20), solutions were administered using a nasal spray bottle. Condition order was counterbalanced and a double-blind methodology was employed. Following a 30-min wait period after administration of solutions, dog-owner pairs participated in the Secure Base Test, a short attachment test consisting of three 2-min phases: (1) Baseline- the owner was present, dogs were able to freely explore the testing room (2) Alone- dogs were left alone in the testing room (3) Return- owners re-entered the room and were reunited with their dog. In each phase the dog was evaluated for contact seeking, exploration, and avoidance behaviors. Although, oxytocin administration was expected to increase owner-directed proximity and contact seeking behavior, this effect was not observed. In fact, in the baseline phase, dogs spent significantly more time seeking the proximity of their owners when they received saline than when they received OT ( < 0.05). Sex differences were also assessed for the behavioral variables of interest in the Secure Base Test, and results indicated that OT did not affect dogs' behavior in the alone phase, but when saline was administered, females spent significantly more time in contact with the door than males in the alone phase ( < 0.05). Overall, the effects of nasally administered oxytocin on attachment related behavior appeared to be limited or inconsistent for this pet dog population.
本研究探讨了天然存在的激素——鼻内催产素对宠物狗在依恋测试中的行为的影响。每只狗都参与了两个测试环节。在一次测试中，通过鼻腔给予生理盐水，在另一次测试中，通过鼻腔给予催产素。对于一半的狗（n = 20），溶液通过黏膜雾化装置（MAD）给药，对于另一半的狗（n = 20），溶液使用鼻喷雾瓶给药。条件顺序进行了平衡，并采用了双盲方法。在给予溶液后等待30分钟后，狗主人对参与了安全基地测试，这是一个简短的依恋测试，包括三个2分钟的阶段：（1）基线期——主人在场，狗可以自由探索测试房间；（2）独处期——狗被单独留在测试房间；（3）重聚期——主人重新进入房间并与他们的狗团聚。在每个阶段，对狗的寻求接触、探索和回避行为进行评估。尽管预期给予催产素会增加对主人的接近和寻求接触行为，但未观察到这种效果。事实上，在基线期，当狗接受生理盐水时，它们花在寻求与主人接近上的时间明显多于接受催产素时（p < 0.05）。还对安全基地测试中感兴趣的行为变量进行了性别差异评估，结果表明，催产素在独处期不影响狗的行为，但当给予生理盐水时，在独处期雌性花在与门接触上的时间明显多于雄性（p < 0.05）。总体而言，鼻内给予催产素对这一宠物狗群体的依恋相关行为的影响似乎有限或不一致。
