Assessing the welfare of kennelled dogs—A review of animal-based measures
Open accessAbstract
Hundreds of thousands of dogs are housed in kennels worldwide, yet there are no standard protocols for assessing the welfare of dogs in these environments. Animal science is focusing increasingly on the importance of animal-based measures for determining welfare states, and those measures that have been used with kennelled dogs are reviewed in this paper with particular focus on their validity and practicality. From a physiological standpoint, studies using cortisol, heart rate and heart rate variability, temperature changes, and immune function are discussed. Behavioural measures are also of great relevance when addressing canine welfare, thus studies on fear and anxiety behaviours, abnormal behaviours like stereotypies, as well as responses to strangers and novel objects are reviewed. Finally, a limited number of studies attempting to use cognitive bias and learning ability are also mentioned as cognitive measures. The literature to date provides a strong background for which measures may be useful in determining the welfare of kennelled canines, however more research is needed to further assess the value of using these methods, particularly in regard to the large degree of individual differences that exist between dogs.
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Lack of adequate socialisation and exposure to environmental stimuli, common in commercially bred dogs, may result in 'kennel-dog syndrome', characterized by fear and timidity in unfamiliar social situations or environments.
“The lack of an adequate socialisation and exposure to environmental stimuli, which are common in commercially bred dogs, may result in the development of what is commonly referred to as ‘kennel-dog syndrome’, characterized by the animal exhibiting fear and timidity in unfamiliar social situations or environments [215,216].”
From Ethical Concerns about Fashionable Dog Breeding (2024) · cites this paper as [215]
The Introduction (page unavailable) says kennelled dogs can experience reduced social contact, and the Anxiety & fear related behaviours section reports that enrichment and human contact reduce avoidance of strangers. That section also describes fear responses to novel stimuli. Our copy does not identify a ‘kennel-dog syndrome’ or establish that inadequate socialisation is common in commercially bred dogs and causes that syndrome. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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Cites
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Ethical Concerns about Fashionable Dog Breeding
Menor-Campos, D. J. (2024) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani14050756 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Nogueira, L. B., Palme, R., & Mendonça-Furtado, O. (2021) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani11082264 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
- Authors
- Polgár, Z., Blackwell, E. J., & Rooney, N. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Bristol (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Rooney, Nicola J.
- Venue
- Applied Animal Behaviour Science
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2019-04
- Volume
- 213
- Pages
- 1-13
- ISSN
- 0168-1591 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7126575
- OpenAlex
- W2917675037
- Cited by
- 22
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 15
- FWCI
- 0.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Applied Animal Behaviour Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Bristol Research (University of Bristol) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Explore Bristol Research (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- RSPCA
- Dogs Trust
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Veterinary Orthopedics and Neurology
- Keywords
- animal-based welfare measures, cortisol, heart rate, heart rate variability, body temperature, immune function, stereotypy, novel object response, cognitive biases, learning ability, individual differences
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