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Recently, researchers at Linköping University in Sweden conducted a study to explore whether owners can affect the stress levels of pet dogs. The paper was published in the journal Scientific Reports. The results showed that the relationship between the dog and the owner affected its stress level, and the association between the dog's stress level and the owner's personality traits also changed depending on the breed.
The amount of stress-related hormones in hair can reflect the stress levels of individual animals. The researchers measured hormone levels in the hair of owners and pet dogs, thereby determining their stress levels over the past few months. The main object of observation of this study is an important stress hormone, cortisol hormone.
Dogs are numerous in breed, which is the result of artificial selection of their genes by breeding them in order to allow them to complete different tasks. The researchers were so interested in the question of whether there were differences between different breeds of dogs that they chose two groups of dogs of different breeds to participate in the experiment. The first group consisted of 18 breeds of hounds bred for independent hunting, such as the Swedish Deer Hound, the Norwegian Deer Hound and the Dachshund. The second group is a relatively old breed, which is more genetically close to that of wolves than other breeds. The total number of this group is 24, including Shiba Inu, Basangi and Siberian Sled Dogs. All dog owners filled out personality questionnaires about themselves and their pets and answered a series of related questions: how to interact with the dog, the level of emotional attachment to the dog, and what kind of problems the dog brings.
Linna Roth, a senior lecturer in the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology at Linköping University, said: "The findings are interesting, we found that the personality of the owner affects the stress level of the hounds, but not those ancient breeds. The relationship between the dog and the owner had an impact on the stress levels of both groups of dogs, but had a relatively small impact on the old breed. ”
Researchers have found in a previous study that because humans breed sheepdog breeds based on their ability to cooperate, these shepherds can reflect the long-term stress levels of their owners. This time, after the researchers added information on the relationship between the sheepdog and the owner, we can also clearly see that this relationship has a significant effect on the long-term stress level of the sheepdog.
The researchers proposed that for ancient dog breeds, the relationship with the owner had less effect on their long-term stress; for the hound, the owner's personality and the relationship between the human dog have a clear link with their long-term stress. However, only the pressure level of the shepherd shows a unique synchronization with the pressure level of the owner. Lina Roth said: "We believe that humans raise sheepdogs to cooperate with them, and the relationship between sheepdogs and their owners, as well as the personality of their owners, are important factors that affect the synchronization of stress levels. ”
Editor: Pan Khan Reviewer: Seamus Editor:Chen Zhihan
Journal Source: Scientific Reports
Issue No. 2045-2322
Link to the original article: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210510113538.htm
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