Early life adversity in dogs produces altered physiological and behavioral responses during a social stress-buffering paradigm

Telomere Tales: Exploring the Impact of Stress, Sociality, and Exercise on Dogs' Cellular Aging

Animal welfare is influenced by the cumulative life experiences of an individual. Among these, exposure to chronic stressors has a significant impact on both physical and mental health, contributing to premature aging-a process linked to telomere shortening. Conversely, positive experiences have been shown to mitigate, delay, and sometimes reverse telomere attrition. This suggests that telomere length could be a reliable indicator for assessing animal welfare. This study explored the association between telomere length and characteristics such as life history, environment, and health in domestic dogs. Buccal swabs collected DNA samples from 250 dogs, and telomere length was quantified via qPCR. Our findings revealed that environmental factors significantly influenced telomere length. Dogs housed in kennels or subjected to low physical activity levels exhibited shorter telomeres. Similarly, dogs living in groups of more than five dogs had shorter telomeres, and male dogs were found to have longer telomeres than females. Overall, these results highlight the importance of environmental conditions in influencing telomere length in dogs and the potential to use this biological indicator to evaluate animal welfare.

The power of interspecific sociality: how humans provide social buffering for horses

In this study, we assessed the interspecific "social buffering effect" of humans on horses, exploring how human presence influences stress responses in horses in an unfamiliar environment using the "isolation paradigm." We examined nine Haflinger horses under two counterbalanced conditions: with a passive human stranger (social condition) or alone (isolation condition). Stress responses were assessed through cortisol measurements, heart rate monitoring, and behavioral observations. While cortisol levels significantly increased in both conditions, with no notable differences before and after the tests, heart rate data revealed a different pattern. Results indicated that stress generally decreased in both scenarios, impacting heart rate. Initially, during the first five minutes, heart rate was significantly higher in the social condition compared to isolation, but this trend reversed in the following intervals, with heart rate significantly decreasing as interaction with the stranger increased. Positive interaction between time and stranger-directed behaviors suggested the stranger's influence on heart rate strengthened over time. Overall, these finding suggest that while cortisol data did not reflect a social buffering effect, other metrics indicated that human presence effectively reduced stress in horses after a brief adjustment period, supporting the hypothesis that horses can benefit from human presence during stress, after a short adaptation time. This study highlights the complex nature of stress responses in horses and the potential role of humans as social buffers in interspecific contexts.

Human-directed sociability in the domestic dog: A Tinbergian approach

The motivation to interact with humans is central to dogs' domestication process. This review aims to provide a curated overview of the current knowledge about dogs' human-directed sociability using Tinbergen's four questions as a guiding framework. Firstly, we explore its evolutionary history, discussing wolf-dog differences in the socialization period, fear response, sociability, and attachment to elucidate the effect of domestication. Secondly, we address its ontogeny, highlighting the importance of early life experiences, examining findings on different dog populations to discern the effect of adult life experiences, and reporting changes across the lifespan. Thirdly, we analyse the adaptive value of the dog-human relationship, considering the effects of human association on different dog populations. Fourthly, we elaborate on the mechanisms involved in the dog-human relationship, discussing underlying cognitive and genetic processes and findings on the neurophysiological effects of interacting with humans. Finally, we identify issues and remaining questions that deserve more scrutiny and suggest innovative approaches that could be explored to improve our understanding of dogs' human-directed sociability.

The Welfare of Dogs and Cats in the European Union: A Gap Analysis of the Current Legal Framework

Companion animals, especially dogs and cats, have increasingly been recognized as moral subjects and valued as family members by European citizens. This new role encourages policy makers to face the many companion animals' welfare issues not yet covered by the EU legislation. The main gaps in the protection of dog and cat welfare during their all lifespan have been identified: unhealthy and unethical breeding practices, irresponsible sale and ownership, transport for commercial and non-commercial purposes, training methods, working dog conditions and rights, regulation of dog and cat shows and competitions, the therapeutic neglect, dog and cat end-of-life care, shelter management legislation and the free-ranging cat and dog population rights. The EU legislation framework is still very weak and far from establishing a harmonized approach, promoting a high standard of care and protection across Member States. We conclude that education and awareness regarding responsible pet ownership and the need for a One Welfare approach have a high value in finding adequate solutions, especially when poor human social welfare affects companion animal welfare. Given the link between human and companion animal welfare, the use of stakeholders' involvement strategies and a transdisciplinary approach appear crucial for the development of an EU legal framework for the well-being of dogs and cats.

Human social buffer in goats and dogs

The primary goal of this study was to explore the social buffering effect that humans offer to goats and dogs with limited exposure to human socialization, particularly in situations involving interactions with unfamiliar humans. A total of 13 dogs and 14 goats were selected for the study, all of which had limited prior socialization with humans. Each animal was placed in a testing room with unfamiliar humans for 15 min. Three experimenters aimed to establish a comfortable environment, encouraging social interaction by offering food to the animals and assessing the animals' willingness to accept food and their response to being approached and petted. If both conditions were satisfied, the animals were classified as "social". If one or none of the conditions were met, the animals were classified as "not social". Cortisol levels were measured by collecting blood samples before and after the test. Non-parametric tests together with a GzLM showed that the effect of human social buffering in goats was different in comparison to dogs: goats exhibited higher cortisol levels after the test, while dogs did not show a significant change. Further analysis demonstrated that "social" goats had a lower likelihood of experiencing significant changes in cortisol levels than dogs. Thus, once human interactions are accepted, both species could benefit from social buffering. In summary, this study enhances our understanding of how dogs and goats respond to social interactions with humans in the social buffering effect.

Challenges in Sheltering Seized Animals from Hoarders from a One Welfare Perspective

Animal hoarding is a complex issue that, when discovered, frequently necessitates opening shelter doors to many animals. This is due to hoarders' inability to provide even the most basic welfare standards for their animals, resulting in poor welfare conditions that frequently border on mistreatment. These people are frequently unaware of their failure to care for their animals, as well as of the harm that they cause to people around them and the environment. They usually do not care for themselves either. The majority of hoarders have difficult histories, and they all need help getting back on track. When the agencies discover the status quo, the animals are usually seized and taken to shelters, where they face a variety of welfare consequences, beginning with confinement in an unknown environment that is associated with additional risks (e.g., infectious diseases, behavioral deterioration, and distress). Furthermore, the targeted shelters are frequently overcrowded and cannot adequately accommodate the large numbers of animals found in hoarders' environments. The One Welfare approach, which is increasingly being used alongside One Health to work at the intersection of human and animal health and welfare, could be adopted to benefit animals while also addressing the poor states of humans. This concept's depiction of the interconnections between animal welfare, human well-being, and the environment can fit with all the components of the animal-hoarding phenomenon, including the peculiarities of the hoarding environment, as well as those of shelters where animals are often moved. The purpose of this paper is to offer insights into how the One Welfare concept may be critical in tackling all of the interests concerned in these cases and offering solutions.

Early life adversities and lifelong health outcomes: A review of the literature on large, social, long-lived nonhuman mammals

Social nonhuman animals are powerful models for studying underlying factors related to lifelong health outcomes following early life adversities (ELAs). ELAs can be linked to lifelong health outcomes depending on the species, system, sensitive developmental periods, and biological pathways. This review focuses on the literature surrounding ELAs and lifelong health outcomes in large, social, relatively long-lived nonhuman mammals including nonhuman primates, canids, hyenas, elephants, ungulates, and cetaceans. These mammals, like humans but unlike the most-studied rodent models, have longer life histories, complex social structures, larger brains, and comparable stress and reproductive physiology. Collectively, these features make them compelling models for comparative aging research. We review studies of caregiver, social, and ecological ELAs, often in tandem, in these mammals. We consider experimental and observational studies and what each has contributed to our knowledge of health across the lifespan. We demonstrate the continued and expanded need for comparative research to inform about the social determinants of health and aging in both humans and nonhuman animals.