Amaya Veronica, Paterson Mandy B A, Descovich Kris, Phillips Clive J C
Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Queensland, White House Building (8134), Gatton Campus, Gatton, QLD 4343, Australia.
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Queensland, Wacol, QLD 4076, Australia.
Animals (Basel). 2020 Aug 10;10(8):1385. doi: 10.3390/ani10081385.
Animal shelters can be stressful environments and time in care may affect individual dogs in negative ways, so it is important to try to reduce stress and arousal levels to improve welfare and chance of adoption. A key element of the stress response is the activation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and a non-invasive tool to measure this activity is heart rate variability (HRV). Physiologically, stress and arousal result in the production of corticosteroids, increased heart rate and decreased HRV. Environmental enrichment can help to reduce arousal related behaviours in dogs and this study focused on sensory environmental enrichment using olfactory and auditory stimuli with shelter dogs. The aim was to determine if these stimuli have a physiological effect on dogs and if this could be detected through HRV. Sixty dogs were allocated to one of three stimuli groups: lavender, dog appeasing pheromone and music or a control group, and usable heart rate variability data were obtained from 34 dogs. Stimuli were applied for 3 h a day on five consecutive days, with HRV recorded for 4 h (treatment period + 1 h post-treatment) on the 5th and last day of exposure to the stimuli by a Polar heart rate monitor attached to the dog's chest. HRV results suggest that music activates both branches of the ANS, which may be useful to relieve both the stress and boredom in shelter environments.
动物收容所可能是压力较大的环境，待在其中的时间可能会对个体犬只产生负面影响，因此设法降低压力和唤醒水平以改善福利及被领养的机会很重要。应激反应的一个关键要素是自主神经系统（ANS）的激活，而测量这种活动的一种非侵入性工具是心率变异性（HRV）。从生理角度来看，压力和唤醒会导致皮质类固醇的产生、心率加快以及HRV降低。环境丰富化有助于减少犬只的唤醒相关行为，本研究聚焦于对收容所犬只使用嗅觉和听觉刺激进行感官环境丰富化。目的是确定这些刺激是否会对犬只产生生理影响，以及这是否可以通过HRV检测到。60只犬被分配到三个刺激组之一：薰衣草组、犬安抚信息素组和音乐组，或一个对照组，并且从34只犬获得了可用的心率变异性数据。刺激连续五天每天施加3小时，在接触刺激的第5天也是最后一天，通过连接在犬胸部的极地心率监测器记录4小时（治疗期 + 治疗后1小时）的HRV。HRV结果表明，音乐激活了自主神经系统的两个分支，这可能有助于缓解收容所环境中的压力和无聊感。
