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Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Dog Behaviour: Pilot Study

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Hunt, R.L., Whiteside, H. and Prankel, Susanne (2022) Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Dog Behaviour: Pilot Study. Animals, 12 (2). p. 141. ISSN 2076-2615 EISSN 2076-2615

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12020141

Abstract

Environmental enrichment (EE) can be used to enhance the environment of various animals. The aim of this pilot study was to determine the effects of seven EE activities (Bonding, Bubble machine, Conspecific play, Interactive toy, Playhouse, Stuffed food toy and Tug play) on dog behaviour, pre- and post-EE for dogs housed in an office environment during training as part of an assistance dog training programme. EE activities resulted in a significant increase in the frequency of relaxation behaviours (p < 0.01) and a significant reduction in alert (p < 0.01) and stress behaviours (p = 0.02). Results suggest various benefits of the different activities with Conspecific Play and Playhouse activities having the greatest overall positive behaviour change when compared to the other activities. The food-based EE activities (Interactive toy and Stuffed food toy) had the least behaviour change of all the activities provided. Findings will be of interest to pet owners, animal rescue centres, dog trainers and working dog organisations.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/)
Uncontrolled Discrete Keywords:	environmental enrichment, dog, behaviour, SERG
Divisions:	College of Health, Life and Environmental Sciences > School of Science and the Environment
Related URLs:	Publisher
Depositing User:	Susanne Prankel
Date Deposited:	11 Jan 2022 16:32
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2022 15:32
URI:	https://eprints.worc.ac.uk/id/eprint/11607

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