Dogs may be impacted by owners’ stress

Stress levels in dogs are affected by how much stress their owners are feeling, according to a study from researchers at Queen’s University, Belfast (QUB).

“The experience of stress, particularly chronic stress, can have deleterious effects on canine behaviour and welfare,” the study said.

It investigated whether changes in owner stress levels influenced dog stress, for example, on a visit to the vet.

And while visits to the vets are an important part of keeping a dog healthy, the study said they can also “result in acute stress as a result of confinement, uncertainty, pain, and loss of autonomy”.

Twenty-eight dogs and their owners took part in the study, which was carried out at a veterinary clinic in Dublin.

Ten of the dogs were male and 18 were female, and their ages ranged from one to 17 years old.

Half of the owners did a breathing meditation exercise designed to reduce their stress levels and help them relax during the study.

As part of it they also read affirmations like “My dog brings me joy” and “I care for my dog”.

The other half of the owners took a “Digital Stress Test”, which can induce moderate stress.

A number of dog walkers in Ormeau Park in south Belfast said their dogs are like sponges to the energy around them.

“If you’re in a bad mood the dog will react to that and generally she will become a little bit more naughty” said Ivan Armstrong as he handed his black poodle a bowl of water.

“If we’re all very nice and calm she is as well,” he added.

A woman named Sonia had two rescues with her and said: “They’re social animals, if you’re stressed, they’re stressed.

“They pick up everything, that’s just natural for them. If everyone’s laughing they’ll come over an try to play, if anyone’s upset they’ll come over as well.”

Geraldine and Claire were out walking their dog, Daisy.

They felt as though Daisy was very astute at reacting to their mood, rather than reflecting it.

“The dog I think is very astute” said Claire.

“If you’re upset sometimes the dog will come and lie on top of you, and that helps you.”

Darren said he and his dog, Ted, were good friends.

“If the mood was low in the house, or there’s something going on with the wife and me, the dog definitely senses it.”

The owners and their dogs were both fitted with heart rate monitors to monitor changes in the heart rate between beats.

Video footage was also collected throughout to assess if the dog’s behaviour changed.

The study suggested that changes in an owner’s stress levels could lead to changes in their dog’s stress levels, and that dogs responded to their owner’s stress.

Changes in the owner’s heart rate “significantly predicted” changes in the heart rate of their dogs.

“This result is in line with our hypothesis that changes in owner stress levels influence canine stress,” the paper said.

“Changes in human stress levels can have an innate and immediate effect on canine indicators of physiological stress.

“By devising strategies to mitigate owner stress in veterinary settings, canine stress may, as a result of reducing owner stress, also be alleviated.”

The results also suggested that giving the dogs time to adjust to being in the vets and not rushing them into their examination could reduce any fear or stress they were feeling.

“This research highlights the importance of providing dogs with time to acclimatise to the clinic environment to reduce the stress experienced by dogs in these settings, which may in turn improve the accuracy of any physical examinations or diagnostics performed,” the study said.

It also recommended that vets try to reduce the stress experienced by dog owners, as this would also help their dogs.

The researchers did, however, acknowledge that the number of dogs and owners taking part was small, due to the time constraints of the study.

The research, carried out by vet Aoife Byrne and Dr Gareth Arnott from the School of Biological Sciences at QUB, has been published in the Journal of Applied Animal Behaviour Science.

Speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme, Ms Byrne said she was offering advice to veterinary clinics as a result of the study to “work more to make the experience [of visiting the vet] less stressful for owners and less stressful for dogs”.

She highlighted that the study found that dogs’ heart rates tended to decrease over time as they acclimatise to a new environment.

“I think that’s very important because veterinary appointments can often be very short, everyone is under pressure, and I think there should be a real incentive to try and slow everything down,” she said.

“Heart rate is one thing that as vets we are measuring, and if our dogs’ heart rates are elevated because they are stressed, we might be getting a reading that’s not necessarily reflective of how they are day-to-day.”

Al Rankin is a dog behaviour consultant, he cites emotional contagion and smell as significant factors for this correlation in behaviour.

Emotional contagion is where the emotions and behaviours of one influence the emotion and behaviours of others.

Al said: “There are many reasons to point to why dogs stress levels corelate with their humans, all of these reasons are not fully known yet.

“However, the excellent sense of smell that canines have, allows them to smell the pheromones we humans release when we are stressed.”

Similar to humans, he said: “A dog will get to know its owner over time, and when someone you know feels stressed, you can sometimes sense it, this is the same in dogs.”

Al says a dogs behaviour can change significantly when stressed “to the point it can be potentially very harmful to the animal.

“It has stress response behaviours, which includes lip-licking, panting, increased vocalising, restlessness and poor quality sleep, with the latter being potentially detrimental to a dogs health.”