PDTE 2013 Winter Newsletter
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sponse is to walk in a curve, but what<br />
happens when an unfamiliar person<br />
does the same? Conversely, what happens<br />
when an unfamiliar person walks<br />
straight towards the dog?<br />
The equipment was set up in a dedicated<br />
inside area with cameras at several<br />
angles, and a marked spot where<br />
the owner would stand with the dog<br />
on lead. An unknown person would<br />
then walk straight on or curving towards<br />
the dog. If we noticed that the<br />
dog was reacting in any way negatively,<br />
the person would always approach in<br />
a curve, even if that meant changing<br />
from a direct course. We were careful<br />
not to put any pressure on the dog.<br />
We also checked with the owner that<br />
the dog did not otherwise have a<br />
problem meeting persons, and if it did,<br />
we always walked in the curve.<br />
One camera was positioned directly<br />
behind the dog, another one facing<br />
the dog at a distance, and a third<br />
camera showed a close-up of the dog.<br />
This was an important feature that<br />
helped owners see what was going on<br />
with their dog externally as well as<br />
internally.<br />
RESULTS<br />
In one case with the person walking<br />
towards the dog, the pulse was about<br />
90 to start with and rose very rapidly<br />
to almost 180, but the dog’s tail was<br />
wagging. He was perhaps a bit happy<br />
but also perhaps a bit worried.<br />
With another dog the pulse rose to<br />
above 190 when a strange person<br />
walked straight towards him but went<br />
down again as soon as the man walked<br />
away. It really helps owners to see how<br />
their dogs respond to people walking<br />
directly towards them.<br />
Conversely, when an unfamiliar person<br />
walked in a curve towards the dog, in<br />
several cases the pulse in fact went<br />
down, starting around 80 and ending<br />
up around 70. In the experiments, we<br />
noticed that the dogs become aware<br />
of the person already at quite a big<br />
distance of tens of metres.<br />
Putting all the results together, we have<br />
now done this with 62 dogs. The result<br />
is that on average the pulse rises 10.5%<br />
when walking straight towards the dog.<br />
But the average change for walking in a<br />
curve towards the dog gives a reduction<br />
of about 5.3%. Our prediction was that<br />
when meeting the dog straight on, the<br />
pulse would rise quite a lot, but that<br />
when curving the pulse would rise only<br />
a little. So we were surprised to see<br />
that it actually goes down. The worst<br />
case that I encountered was the pulse<br />
rising by more than 110% from, 85 to<br />
179. It is hard to imagine that many<br />
dogs actually have to deal with this<br />
every single day. Most of them cope<br />
with it; it’s not polite, but it’s copeable.<br />
On the other hand, some dogs really<br />
have a problem with this, and for them<br />
it’s quite frightening to see a person<br />
heading directly for them.<br />
The walking-in-a-curve project continues,<br />
and we are hoping to involve<br />
many hundreds of dogs, which will<br />
produce a better picture overall.<br />
OTHER DAILY SITUATIONS<br />
Currently we are looking at some<br />
other daily situations and their effects<br />
on pulse. We have only studied this<br />
in a few dogs so we cannot draw any<br />
conclusions yet.<br />
Using the voice<br />
In one video we took, I am telling the<br />
dog in quite a firm tone to sit. The<br />
pulse rises to about 220. He had quite<br />
a high pulse when he started, but it<br />
shot up very fast. In the same exercise<br />
with another dog, the pulse doubled.<br />
Conversely, when I got the dog to sit<br />
down with only a treat and no voice,<br />
the pulse went up only very little. One<br />
could say that the dog’s pulse rose<br />
in the first instance because he was<br />
expecting the treat, but in the second<br />
exercise case he was still expecting the<br />
treat but I did not use my voice, and<br />
his pulse only went up only a little.<br />
Rewarding<br />
In another video, the dog is sitting<br />
down and his owner drops a treat<br />
on the floor. The dog’s pulse remains<br />
around 70. The owner then starts to<br />
praise the dog by patting him on the<br />
side and leaning over him, and the<br />
dog’s pulse shoots up to 150. Of course<br />
that involves some movement so the<br />
pulse would rise to some extent, but<br />
doing this several times gives the same<br />
result. So if you have a dog that is<br />
otherwise a little bit stressed, maybe<br />
leaning over him and patting him is<br />
not the best idea!<br />
Searching for treats or fetching?<br />
With a dog that is normally quite<br />
stressed, when I tossed treats in<br />
the grass for him to find, the pulse<br />
dropped from 150 to under 100.<br />
Searching for treats is a wonderful<br />
exercise for any dog. With the same<br />
dog, I then held a stick as if I was going<br />
to throw it, and just seeing the stick<br />
caused his pulse to race up to over<br />
175 within a few seconds. Then I threw<br />
the stick just a couple of metres and<br />
the pulse shot up to around 190. The<br />
second time the pulse went up to 221.<br />
So if I had to choose which activity<br />
to do with this dog, there is no doubt<br />
that nose work would be by far the<br />
better option. It is not healthy to have<br />
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