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Projeto de mestrado em Marketing e Estratégia, O aumento do número de animais nas famílias, a incompatibilidade entre os horários profissionais dos tutores e os horários fisiológicos dos animais e o aumento da consciência sobre o bem-estar animal têm influenciado o crescimento do setor dos serviços de Pet Care. A BiDog é uma marca recente que operando neste mercado se deparou com a dificuldade de conseguir crescer a par do setor. Neste sentido, verifica-se uma falta de estratégia da marca que este projeto pretende culminar. Ao longo do projeto foi definida uma estratégia que teve como base o estado futuro desejado da marca. Nesse sentido, foram desenvolvidas recomendações que pretendem trazer inovação a este mercado., The increase in the number of animals in families, the incompatibility between the professional schedules of the guardians and the physiological schedules of the animals and the increase in awareness about animal welfare have influenced the growth of the Pet Care services sector. BiDog is a recent brand that operating in this market has encountered the difficulty of being able to grow along with the sector. In this sense, there is a lack of brand strategy that this project aims to overcome. Throughout the project, a strategy was defined based on the desired future state of the brand. In this sense, recommendations were developed that intend to bring innovation to this market.

Human remains detection dogs (HRDDs) are powerful police assets to locate a corpse. However, the methods used to select and train them are as diverse as the number of countries with such a canine brigade. First, a survey sent to human remains searching brigades (Ncountries = 10; NBrigades = 16; NHandlers = 50; Nquestions = 9), to collect their working habits confirmed the lack of optimized selection and training procedures. Second, a literature review was performed in order to outline the strengths and shortcomings of HRDDs training. A comparison between the scientific knowledge and the common practices used by HRDDs brigade was then conducted focusing on HRDDs selection and training procedures. We highlighted that HRDD handlers select their dogs by focusing on behavioral traits while neglecting anatomical features, which have been shown to be important. Most HRDD handlers reported to use a reward‐based training, which is in accordance with training literature for dogs. Training aids should be representative of the odor target to allow a dog to reach optimal performances. The survey highlighted the wide diversity of homemade training aids, and the need to optimize their composition. In the present document, key research topics to improve HRDD works are also provided.

Simple Summary Information on training, competition, and management of agility dogs is sparse. To decrease this knowledge gap, Finnish owners and handlers of competition-level agility dogs completed an online questionnaire to describe the agility routines of their dog during one injury-free year. Additional information on competition routines was retrieved from the national competition results database. Typically, competition-level agility dogs trained agility once or twice a week and competed two runs a month. The median total weekly training time was 18 min. Usual speed over the competition course was 4.3 m/s. Artificial turf, with or without filling, and dirt surfaces are used most often. Dogs are warmed up before and cooled down after agility performance. Most dogs visit a massage therapist, physiotherapist, osteopath or other professionals of musculoskeletal care at least every three months. Many dogs undergo conditioning exercises, although often less often than every two weeks. Additionally, agility dogs are walked for a total of 1.5 h a day. Dogs competing at the highest levels competed more but trained less than dogs at lower levels. This is the first investigation of agility-related routines in competing agility dogs. Abstract Knowledge regarding training, competition, and management routines of agility dogs is lacking. Through a retrospective online questionnaire, Finnish owners and handlers of 745 competition-level agility dogs provided information on training routines and management of these dogs during one year free of agility-related injuries. Competition routines were collected from the national competition results database. Most dogs trained agility 1–2 times a week, with a median active training time of 18 min a week. Dogs competed in a median of 2.1 runs per month at a speed of 4.3 m/s. Common field surfaces were different types of artificial turfs and dirt surface. Warm-up and cool-down were established routines, and 62% of dogs received regular musculoskeletal care. Moreover, 77% of dogs underwent conditioning exercises, but their frequency was often low. Additionally, dogs were walked for a median of 1.5 h daily. Pearson’s chi-squared and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to evaluate the association between a dog’s competition level and training and competition variables. A dog’s competition level was associated with competition (p < 0.001) and training frequency (p < 0.001); dogs at higher levels compete more but train less than dogs at lower levels. This study provides information on training, competition, and management routines of competing agility dogs.

In Italy, kennel management in the One health framework is often difficult to realize, mainly because of a general overcrowding effect for housed dogs, associated to the lower adoption rate, which all have a significant impact upon operating costs. In the present commentary we discussed about the importance of employing integrated and innovative strategies to improve the quality of life of sheltered dogs, thus allowing them to be adopted more eas ily. In this respect, together with an accurate behavioral rehabilitation program, taking timely actions to prevent the most common diseases affecting animal health in the kennel, is an unmet need. Collectively, based on our previous findings, we suggest that a good handling of companion dogs in the kennels might be challenging to ensure animal welfare and improve human-dog relationship

ContextMolecular tests are useful in detecting COVID-19, but they are expensive in developing countries. COVID-19-sniffing dogs are an alternative due to their reported sensitivity (>80%) and specificity (>90%). However, most of the published evidence is experimental, and there is a need to determine the performance of the dogs in field conditions. Hence, we aimed to test the sensitivity and specificity of COVID-19-sniffing dogs in the field.MethodsWe trained four dogs with sweat and three dogs with saliva of COVID-19-positive patients, respectively, for 4.5 months. The samples were obtained from a health center in Hermosillo, Sonora, with the restriction to spend 5 min per patient. We calculated sensitivity, specificity, and their 95% confidence intervals (CI).ResultsTwo sweat-sniffing dogs reached 76 and 80% sensitivity, with the 95% CI not overlapping the random value of 50%, and 75 and 88% specificity, with the 95% CI not overlapping the 50% value. The 95% CI of the sensitivity and specificity of the other two sweat dogs overlapped the 50% value. Two saliva-sniffing dogs had 70 and 78% sensitivity, and the 95% CI of their sensitivity and specificity did not overlap the 50% value. The 95% CI of the third dog's sensitivity and specificity overlapped the 50% value.ConclusionFour of the six dogs were able to detect positive samples of patients with COVID-19, with sensitivity and specificity values significantly different from random in the field. We considered the performance of the dogs promising because it is reasonable to expect that with gauze exposed for a longer time to sweat and saliva of people with COVID-19, their detection capacity would improve. The target is to reach the sensitivity range requested by the World Health Organization for the performance of an antigen test (≥80% sensitivity, ≥97% specificity). If so, dogs could become important allies for the control of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in developing countries.

In recent years, two well-developed methods of studying mental processes in humans have been successively applied to dogs. First, eye-tracking has been used to study visual cognition without distraction in unrestrained dogs. Second, noninvasive functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used for assessing the brain functions of dogs in vivo. Both methods, however, require dogs to sit, stand, or lie motionless while yet remaining attentive for several minutes, during which time their brain activity and eye movements are measured. Whereas eye-tracking in dogs is performed in a quiet and, apart from the experimental stimuli, nonstimulating and highly controlled environment, MRI scanning can only be performed in a very noisy and spatially restraining MRI scanner, in which dogs need to feel relaxed and stay motionless in order to study their brain and cognition with high precision. Here we describe in detail a training regime that is perfectly suited to train dogs in the required skills, with a high success probability and while keeping to the highest ethical standards of animal welfare—that is, without using aversive training methods or any other compromises to the dog’s well-being for both methods. By reporting data from 41 dogs that successfully participated in eye-tracking training and 24 dogs IN fMRI training, we provide robust qualitative and quantitative evidence for the quality and efficiency of our training methods. By documenting and validating our training approach here, we aim to inspire others to use our methods to apply eye-tracking or fMRI for their investigations of canine behavior and cognition. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.3758/s13428-019-01281-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background Companion animal behaviour problems significantly impact companion animal (and owner) welfare. Veterinary behavioural medicine (VBM) is an emerging discipline and aims to provide evidence-based advice to owners and veterinary professionals to support normal behaviour in companion animals through appropriate socialisation and training and to address behaviour problems in a constructive and welfare-friendly manner. The approach to problem behaviours in dogs has changed in recent years; previously a mis-understanding of the biological theory of dominance has been used to explain certain behavioural problems in dogs which has led to the use of punishment-based treatment methods. Current research advocates the benefits of reward-based methods and highlights the risks of implementing positive punishment-based training techniques to both dogs and owners. Golden and Hanlon (Ir Vet J 71: 12, 2018) have reported that veterinary professionals in Ireland are frequently asked to advise on dog behaviour problems. This study aimed to explore veterinary professionals’ understanding of training and treatment options for frequently encountered dog behaviour problems, and to help support the development of competences in VBM in Ireland. Methods An online survey was developed, including a pre-test evaluation by a pilot group of veterinary professionals, on SurveyMonkey®. The link to the online survey was distributed via third-party professional associations and social media. The survey contained twelve vignettes illustrating advice from veterinary professionals on common behaviour scenarios. Using a Likert Scale, respondents were asked to assess the likelihood of the advice to support best outcome for the dog. Best outcome was defined as one which provides a resolution to the behavioural problem while not compromising the animal’s welfare. Results 84 private veterinary practitioners (PVP) and 133 veterinary nurses (VN) completed the survey. In the majority of vignettes, most veterinary professionals agreed with our classification of best outcome, but several areas of uncertainty were identified. Marked variations in response were found for PVPs in vignettes depicting advice recommending citronella collars, invisible radio fences, trainers utilising dominance language, and another dog for separation anxiety. For VNs, variations in response were found in vignettes depicting dominance-based training and advice on separation anxiety. Significant differences were found in the responses of VNs and PVPs for the vignettes recommending the use of citronella collars (p

In their commentary, Sargisson and McLean (2021) object to our conclusion that the use of e-collars are unnecessary in dog training (China et al 2020). Their criticisms make 4 broad claims: firstly that the training approaches were not the most effective means of training with e-collars; secondly that the paper focussed on measures of efficacy and did not present data on welfare; thirdly that the study did not include long term measures of efficacy; and fourthly our statistical approaches were not appropriate. Sargisson and McLean (2021) also question whether the research should be used to inform policy decisions with regard to use of e-collars in dog training, although we were cautious not to make any specific recommendations regarding legislation in our paper. We shall deal with each of these objections in turn, placing the first three in the context of the research project as well as related published work, clarifying the statistical approaches as there appear to be misunderstandings by Sargisson and McLean (2021) and finally relating the research to policy implications.

Title: Dog training for the Mountain Rescue Service Objectives: The aim of this work is to compile a comprehensive set of information related to dog training for the Mountain Rescue Service and to describe other circumstances without which the training would not be successful. Methods: The research method and data and information collection methods were used for the sake of this work as well as the methods of analysis and synthesis of information obtained from the issue of rescue cynology and analysis of statistics on the use of dogs at the Mountain Service in the last six years. Results: The training of a dog for area and avalanche searching for mountain services and other factors that lead to the successful inclusion of a rescue dog in services are described in this work. Keywords: Rescue cynology, dog training, area search, avalanche search, mountain service, integrated rescue system.

Title: Training and use of dogs for the customs. Objectives: The objective of this Bachelor Thesis is creation of a summary of information concerning training methods and their use for Customs of the Czech Republic. Methods: The developmet of this thesis was supported by study material search and its analysis. Furtermore, the methods of research, analysis and synthesis of the obtained documents were used. Results: The result of this thesis is a document that offers a summarised information concerning service dog training for the purpose of use by the Customs of the Czech Republic and an overwiev of the most used breeds chosen for these purposes. Keywords: cynology, integrated rescue system, Customs of the Czech Republic, dogs, dog training.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of sociality level in dogs using food reinforcement. The companion dogs living mostly inside (IS) and those living mostly outside (OS) groups were further classified into high sociality (HS) and low sociality (LS) groups using a social test. The data were analyzed by observing videos of the dogs and recording nine categories of sociality. Passive, activity, and communication tasks were measured in terms of the time the dog first contacted the trainer, the time it took for the dog to approach within 1 m of the trainer, and the time the dog remained in contact. The IS and OS groups showed no significant differences in any category, except for close to trainer within 1 m of the active phase. However, in a comparison between the overall HS and LS groups, significant positive changes were observed in all items except for the first contact time to the trainer of the passive and active phase. This is an important result of the sociality level, as positive results can be predicted not only in a dog&rsquo, s ability to adapt to the environment but also in the communication and training exchanges between dogs and humans

We assessed the efficacy of dog training with and without remote electronic collars compared to training with positive reinforcement. A total of 63 dogs with known off-lead behavioral problems such as poor recall were allocated to one of three training groups (each n = 21), receiving up to 150 min of training over 5 days to improve recall and general obedience. The 3 groups were: E-collar—manufacturer-nominated trainers who used electronic stimuli as part of their training program; Control 1—the same trainers following practices they would apply when not using electronic stimuli; and Control 2—independent, professional trainers who focused primarily on positive reinforcement for their training. Data collection focused on dogs' response to two commands: “Come” (recall to trainer) and “Sit” (place hindquarters on ground). These were the two most common commands used during training, with improving recall being the target behavior for the subject dogs. Measures of training efficacy included number of commands given to elicit the response and response latency. Control 2 achieved significantly better responses to both “Sit” and “Come” commands after a single instruction in the allocated time. These dogs also had shorter response latencies than the E-collar group. There was no significant difference in the proportion of command disobeyed between the three groups, although significantly fewer commands were given to the dogs in Control 2. There was no difference in the number of verbal cues used in each group, but Control 2 used fewer hand and lead signals, and Control 1 made more use of these signals than E-collar group. These findings refute the suggestion that training with an E-collar is either more efficient or results in less disobedience, even in the hands of experienced trainers. In many ways, training with positive reinforcement was found to be more effective at addressing the target behavior as well as general obedience training. This method of training also poses fewer risks to dog welfare and quality of the human-dog relationship. Given these results we suggest that there is no evidence to indicate that E-collar training is necessary, even for its most widely cited indication.

Simple Summary Dogs are used in many contexts, including the detection of odor sources. A particular application of dogs during searching activities is the location of human remains. In this work, we aimed to gather the common practices of police dog handlers based on a survey made of nine questions, which was sent to police dog handlers around the world (NCountries = 10; NBrigades = 16; NHandlers = 50) and then compared to the information available in the scientific literature. We highlighted a wide diversity of selection and training procedures used by handlers. Studies dedicated to human remains detection dogs are not abundant. However, we found key information that should be applied by handlers during the selection and the training of their human remains detection dogs. First of all, they should include the anatomical traits during the dog selection as behavioral traits alone are not representative of their potential. Finally, even if the training procedures are well performed by handlers, we highlighted a wide diversity of homemade training aids. However, no information was found in the literature regarding the effect of the training aids on the dog performances. For these reasons, handlers should create normalized selection and training procedures while scientists should investigate the behavior of these dogs to provide more information to handlers. Abstract Human remains detection dogs (HRDDs) are powerful police assets to locate a corpse. However, the methods used to select and train them are as diverse as the number of countries with such a canine brigade. First, a survey sent to human remains searching brigades (Ncountries = 10; NBrigades = 16; NHandlers = 50; Nquestions = 9), to collect their working habits confirmed the lack of optimized selection and training procedures. Second, a literature review was performed in order to outline the strengths and shortcomings of HRDDs training. A comparison between the scientific knowledge and the common practices used by HRDDs brigade was then conducted focusing on HRDDs selection and training procedures. We highlighted that HRDD handlers select their dogs by focusing on behavioral traits while neglecting anatomical features, which have been shown to be important. Most HRDD handlers reported to use a reward-based training, which is in accordance with training literature for dogs. Training aids should be representative of the odor target to allow a dog to reach optimal performances. The survey highlighted the wide diversity of homemade training aids, and the need to optimize their composition. In the present document, key research topics to improve HRDD works are also provided.

Namen prispevka: V prispevku izpostavljamo pomembnost dela v zaporu kot elementa resocializacije obsojencev, različnih načinov sodelovanja obsojencev z lokalno skupnostjo in možnosti uvedbe različnih vrst dela za obsojence (v smeri samooskrbe slovenskih zaporov), ki bi posledično pripomogle k večji zaposljivosti obsojencev, obenem pa predstavljamo vizijo zaposlenih v zaporu na Dobu za uvedbo programa šolanja psov. Metode: Na podlagi pregleda dobrih praks izvajanja dela za obsojence v zaporu na Dobu in osebnih izkušenj prvih treh avtorjev prispevka z delom z obsojenci smo izpostavili različne oblike sodelovanja obsojencev z lokalno skupnostjo in uvedbe različnih vrst dela za obsojence, vključno z uvedbo programa šolanja psov. Ugotovitve: Ugotovili smo, da naši predlogi za izboljšave na področju dela obsojencev niso nekaj novega, temveč so bile v zaporu na Dobu prisotne že v preteklosti. Nadalje predvidevamo, da so glavni razlogi za neuvajanje izboljšav, ki bi povečale možnosti za zaposlovanje obsojencev, organizacijske in finančne narave, saj smo ugotovili, da obstaja zakonska podlaga ob hkratni institucionalni podpori. Obsojenci sami izražajo željo po delu, saj jim lajša posledice monotonega življenja v zaporu, predstavlja jim vir zaslužka ter jim hkrati pomaga pri pridobivanju ugodnosti. Obenem smo ugotovili, da bi uvedba novih programov (samooskrba s hrano in šolanje psov) izboljšala usposobljenost zaposlenih, hkrati pa bi se ustvarila nova delovna mesta za obsojence. Praktična uporabnost: Naše ugotovitve predstavljajo praktične rešitve za izboljšanje situacije zaposlovanja obsojencev v zaporu na Dobu. Izvirnost/pomembnost prispevka: V prispevku se osredotočamo na vpeljavo sprememb na področju dela obsojencev v zaporu na Dobu. Prispevek hkrati predstavlja izhodišče za raziskovanje področja zaposlovanja obsojencev v drugih slovenskih zaporih. Purpose: In the paper, we emphasise the importance of work in prison, as an element of rehabilitation of prisoners. Furthermore, we highlight various ways of cooperation between prisoners and local communities, and possibilities for implementation of various types of work for prisoners (in the direction of self-sufficiency of Slovenian prisons), which would have a positive impact on employability of prisoners. Moreover, we present a vision of the prison staff in Dob prison for implementing a dog training programme. Methods: Based on a review of good practices of implementation of prisoners’ work in Dob prison and personal experience of the first three authors of the paper in the field of work with prisoners, we have highlighted various forms of cooperation of prisoners with local community and different types of work for prisoners, including a dog training programme. Findings: We discover that our recommendations for improvements in the field of prisoners’ work had already been implemented in Dob prison in the past, but were later deprecated. Furthermore, we assume that the main reasons for non-implementation of improvements that would increase employment opportunities for prisoners are of an organisational and financial nature, as we discover that legal basis and institutional support are present. Prisoners are expressing desire to work, as it eases them the consequences of monotonous life in prison, represents them a source of income and helps them obtaining benefits. Moreover, we found that the introduction of new programs (food self-sufficiency and dog training) would improve staff competences and create new jobs for prisoners. Practical Implications: Our findings present practical solutions for improvement of the employment situation of prisoners in Dob prison Originality: In the paper, we focus on the introduction of changes in the field of prisoners’ work in Dob prison. Moreover, the paper presents a starting point for further exploration of employment possibilities for prisoners in other Slovenian prisons.

Clicker training refers to an animal training technique, derived from laboratory-based studies of animal learning and behaviour, in which a reward-predicting signal is delivered immediately following performance of a desired behaviour, and is subsequently followed by a reward. While clicker training is popular amongst dog training practitioners, scientific evaluation in applied settings has been largely unsuccessful in replicating the benefits of reward-predicting signals seen in laboratory animal studies. Here we present an analysis of dog trainers’ advice and perceptions, conducted to better understand clicker training as it occurs in the dog training industry. Twenty-five sources (13 interviews with dog trainers, 5 websites, and 7 books) were analysed using a deductive content analysis procedure. We found that, for many sources, “clicker training” referred not only to the technique, but also to a philosophy of training that emphasises positive reinforcement and the deliberate application of Learning Theory principles. Many sources reported that clicker training was fun, for both dog and handler, but that it could be frustrating for handlers to learn and sometimes cumbersome to juggle the extra equipment. In addition, while most sources recommended clicker training particularly when training new behaviours, many stated that it was no longer needed once the dog had learned the desired behaviour. When comparing industry recommendations to methods used in applied studies, different criteria were used for predictor signal conditioning. Inadequate conditioning of the predictor signal in empirical evaluations could partly explain the lack of learning benefits in applied studies. While future research is needed to verify the practitioner beliefs in a wider population, these results provide an in-depth description of what clicker training is, at least for the sources analysed, and a potential starting point for understanding methodological factors that could contribute to previous studies’ failure to demonstrate the benefits purported to exist by industry practitioners.

Background: Whenever a crime is committed, forensic personnel are requested to collect every kind of evidence to establish the relationship between the suspects and the crime. When any evidence is accidentally destroyed or not found, there is one type of latent evidence that is always deposited at the crime scene: unique human scent. Recently, the use of trained canines to detect selective human scent at a crime scene has increased. To consolidate this kind of evidence, it is essential to have an exact knowledge and an awareness of the chemical signature of the volatile compounds that could indicate the presence of the alleged offender at the crime scene. This experimental study aims to detect the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from subjects who handled scent-articles to imprint their odor on. After handling, each scent-article was wrapped in sterile and VOC-free cotton gauzes for 48h for secondary transfer. VOCs were detected by headspace/solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (HS/SPME-GC/MS) and well-trained dogs, at different time points (up to 15days). Furthermore, the possibility of further DNA detection after contact was also investigated to propose a novel approach able to identify a subject from this latent forensic trace. Results: Data show that inter-individual human scent composition includes different VOCs, but dogs were able to discriminate the individual who touched the object at the crime scene. The dog training procedure showed excellent sensitivity (between 99.48 and 100%) and specificity (between 60 and 100%), having a positive predictive value (PPV) ranging between 97.94 and 100% and a negative predictive value (NPV) ranging between 85.71 and 100%. Preliminary work on DNA analysis released after contact yielded positive results, even if further studies are necessary, expanding the same experimentation to a larger sample with the aim of obtaining a statistically significant result. Conclusion: Data show that human scent is a good source of VOCs and a good target for canine training. The well-trained dog represents a specialized biological device able to discriminate personal human odor from any contaminants in the mixture detected by instrumental analysis. Furthermore, this study proposes the use of human scent as a forensic latent trace for DNA profiling.

&ldquo, The Theology of Dog Training&rdquo, demonstrates the rich and surprising ways in which religion plays a primary role in how people make sense of their relationships with their companion animals. In the first sustained analysis of Adam&rsquo, s Task in religious studies, I argue that feminist writer and dog trainer Vicki Hearne describes a form of relational redemption that allows for the restoration of a prelapsarian language between humans and animals, a recovery of a time before humans sinned against God and subsequently lost their authority over animals. Training, which begins with the act of naming a dog and bringing them into the moral life, is Hearne&rsquo, s attempt to restore what was lost in the Fall for both humans and animals. In making this argument, I join a growing community of scholars who are committed to bringing animal studies to the academic study of religion. In addition to analyzing religion as it occurs in non-institutional spaces, I examine phenomena that would not necessarily be considered religious, but, as I show, make ethical and religious claims on human&ndash, canine relationships. By investigating institutions, texts, and practices in contemporary America that traditionally have not been identified as religious, my article shows how religious beliefs and forms can help us build an ethics of multispecies relations.

Simple Summary Raisers volunteer to raise and manage an assistance dog puppy for about a year and typically receive instructions for a wide range of puppy raising tasks from a host organisation. Those tasks vary among organisations, although the literature suggests that raisers should provide frequent socialisation and consistent training to their puppy, and engage in effective learning to improve their own practices. As those tasks are heavily embedded in the raisers’ daily lives, it is not easy to determine if any factors could affect their puppy raising. In this study, we interviewed eight puppy raisers monthly during their participation in an 11-month puppy raising program based at a university campus. Raisers thought that their puppies received more socialisation when they had more availability or someone else to share this responsibility with them, or when the puppies behaved well. Raisers could train their puppy more consistently when they had been prepared to deal with different scenarios occurring during their daily activities. While raisers found that some learning methods suited them better, they generally appreciated opportunities to learn, seek help from, and practise with other raisers. We hope these findings will inform development and evaluation of future programs aimed at improving practices and experiences of raisers. Abstract Many assistance dog providers use volunteer raisers to manage each puppy’s learning and daily experiences, which partly determines the puppy’s behavioural development. Therefore, it is important that raisers engage in recommended practices. Three common recommendations from the literature include frequent socialisation and consistent training for the puppies, and effective training for the raisers. However, what facilitates or hinders raisers’ engagement in these practices remains unclear. To understand this, we interviewed eight raisers (three men and five women) every month during their year-long puppy raising program, and pseudo-randomly selected 16 from 48 interviews for data analysis. Thematic analyses revealed several facilitating and/or hindering factors corresponding to each of the three recommended practices. Frequent socialisation was influenced by the raisers’ availability, sharing of puppy raising responsibility with others, support from their workplace, and the puppy’s behaviours (e.g., soiling indoors, jumping). Consistent training was challenged by the presence of everyday distractors, accessibility to timely advice, perceived judgement from others, and the puppy’s undesirable behaviours. Effective learning was facilitated by having information available in raisers’ preferred learning modality, opportunities for peer-learning, and willingness to seek help. Future research should examine these factors quantitatively, which will enable more robust evaluation of programs aimed at supporting puppy raisers.

There is limited research assessing the effectiveness of Animal-Assisted Therapy in at-risk adolescent populations. In a recent study, 138 adjudicated adolescents participated in a randomized controlled trial of an animal-assisted intervention, in which participants either trained shelter dogs (Teacher’s Pet group) or walked the dogs (control group), with both groups participating in classroom work related to dogs (Seivert, Cano, Casey, Johnson, & May, 2018). Journal writing was a part of class activities for all youth in the study. Conventional assessments of youth behavior made by staff or youth themselves did not demonstrate the expected differences between the groups favoring the dog training group, as youth in both groups showed a significant increase in staff and youth rated internalizing behavior problems and empathy from the beginning to the end of the project. (Seivert et al., 2018). However, subsequent analysis of the journal content from 73 of the adjudicated youth reported here, did reveal significant differences between treatment and control groups, favoring the Teacher’s Pet group. Youth participating in the dog training intervention showed through their journal writing greater social-cognitive growth, more attachment, and more positive attitudes toward the animal-assisted intervention compared to youth in the control group. The 73 youth whose journals were available were very similar to youth in the larger group. Their results illustrate that journaling can be a useful method of assessing effects of similar animal-assisted interventions for at-risk youth. Writing done by youth receiving therapy appeared to promote self-reflection, desirable cognitive change, and prosocial attitudes that may signify improving quality of life for such youth. The expressive writing of participants could reveal important effects of treatment beyond the behavioral changes that are often the targeted outcomes of animal-assisted interventions.

Comment les animaux participent-ils au travail policier ? Prenant appui sur une ethnographie d’un dispositif de professionnalisation des équipes cynophiles de la police nationale, cet article montre comment le dressage des chiens de patrouille socialise les animaux aux mœurs du travail policier. Le courage attendu de ces chiens policiers puise sa source dans les rapports sociaux de travail des cynopoliciers, imprégnés de l’idéologie sécuritaire des politiques de lutte contre la délinquance. Le dressage opère un cadrage policier de l’agressivité canine dans des espaces disciplinaires complémentaires : le ring soumet les animaux à un renforcement agressif fondé sur un faux combat, et le chenil à un isolement social. C’est à l’image de la violence idéologique et pratique de leur travail que les cynopoliciers façonnent les conduites de leurs compagnons canins de travail. How do animals participate in police work? Drawing on an ethnographic study of a system of professional training for police dog teams, this article shows how the training of police patrol dogs socializes animals in the ways of police work. The bravery expected of these police dogs has its source in the working relationship of their police handlers, who are imbued with the security ideology of anti-delinquency policies. The training creates a police framework for canine aggressiveness in complementary disciplinary spaces: the ring provides reinforcement for aggression based on a mock struggle, the kennel exposes them to social isolation. Police handlers shape the behaviour of their canine companions to reflect the ideological and practical violence of their work.

In recent years, the affirmation of a greater ethical sense and research generating a better knowledge of the mechanisms of animal learning, evidence of the existence of an animal mind, and studies on the dog-human attachment bond have led to changes in the dog-human relationship. These changes have caused a notable improvement in dog training techniques. Increased emphasis on dog welfare, overall, led to questioning of many training techniques and tools that used aversive means. Recent research on the use of aversive training devices has been performed and, on this basis, it has been possible to create guidelines to inform the public about utility and the possible detriments related to the use of these devices as a tool in dog training. The European Society of Clinical Animal Ethology has released a public position statement based on the current scientific information available on e-collars, punitive training techniques, and canine welfare. This study elaborates and discusses the arguments "pro and contra the use of e-collars and aversive training methods" leading to the statement in more detail. As a conclusion, European Society of Clinical Animal Ethology strongly opposes the use of e-collars in dog training and urges all European countries to take an interest in and position on this welfare matter.

National audience; How do animals participate in police work? Drawing on an ethnographic study of a system of professional training for police dog teams, this article shows how the training of police patrol dogs socializes animals in the ways of police work. The bravery expected of these police dogs has its source in the working relationship of their police handlers, who are imbued with the security ideology of anti-delinquency policies. The training creates a police framework for canine aggressiveness in complementary disciplinary spaces: the ring provides reinforcement for aggression based on a mock struggle, the kennel exposes them to social isolation. Police handlers shape the behaviour of their canine companions to reflect the ideological and practical violence of their work.

The overall objectives of this thesis were to develop a specific training protocol for training dogs to identify cows in estrus under practical conditions and to identify steps in the procedure of scent detection dog training and testing that can eventually bias the study outcome. My first study revealed multiple differences in methodology and a high variability of the results of 14 studies on training and testing scent detection dogs recruited in a systematic literature research. For evaluation of the studies a check list detailing relevant information about the study design and the training and testing process was used. For the experimental part of this study seven dogs were trained to indicate black tea as target scent in two different testing systems, a testing platform and a scent detection board, and against two different types of negative samples, tap water and smelling distractions. We could achieve a high sensitivity (92.1%) and specificity (97.4%). There was no difference of performance in the two testing systems. Quality of negative samples had no influence on the results. In the second study six dogs were trained for heat detection in dairy cows. A specific training protocol was developed for training dogs to identify cows in estrus from the feed alley. Four of those dogs participated in the final test after an average training time of 50 h per dog. Finally the dogs overall correctly identified positive cows as being positive in 23 out of 32 cases (i.e. sensitivity of 71.9%) and falsely classified positive cows as being negative in nine cases (28.1% type II errors). Out of 128 cases 119 were correctly classified as true negative cows (i.e. specificity of 93.0%) and in nine cases negative cows were falsely identified as positive cows (7.0% type I errors). To process lessons we learned from the first and the second study, we wanted to identify factors in the procedure of dog training and testing that can eventually bias the study outcome. Therefore we performed a systematic literature research and systematic assessment. The objective was to evaluate publications on scent dog studies. Finally I wanted to summarize this information to recommend a best practice standard for scent dog studies. A total of 54 studies could be included for final evaluation. We were able to identify the target odour, the type of scent detection task and experimental set-up, the samples used for training and testing, the test design, the dog trainer and training procedure chosen and the used dog breeds as factors potentially influencing the outcome of scent detection studies with trained dogs. With these findings a best practice standard was recommended. We were able to show that trained dogs can detect cows in estrus on farm with better sensitivity and specificity than is often obtained by conventional heat detection methods. Further research is warranted to develop an optimized training plan that allows training estrus detection dogs for practical use within an appropriate time and to assure a certain sensitivity and specificity in working estrus detection dogs over time. The use of dogs as a diagnostic tool for medical and biological applications is becoming increasingly important. It is mandatory, however, to follow standardized test protocols for scent detection dogs to allow valid comparisons of results. We recommend the application of the best practice standards to reduce possible bias in training and testing scent detection dogs as far as possible., Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, wissenschafts-basiert ein spezifisches Protokoll für das Training von Spürhunden für brünstige Kühe unter Praxisbedingungen zu entwickeln. Zudem sollten diejenigen Faktoren innerhalb des Trainings- und Testprozesses von Spürhunden identifiziert werden, die letztendlich zu systematischen Fehlern in Studienergebnissen führen können. In meiner ersten Studie wurden Unterschiede hinsichtlich der verwendeten Methodik und eine hohe Variabilität der Ergebnisse von 14 Studien zum Thema Training und Testen von Spürhunden offenbart, die im Rahmen einer systematischen Literaturrecherche ausgewählt wurden. Um die Studien auszuwerten, wurde eine Checkliste verwendet, mit deren Hilfe relevante Informationen hinsichtlich des Studiendesigns sowie des Trainings- und Testprozesses abgefragt wurden. Im experimentellen Teil der Studie wurden sieben Hunde trainiert, schwarzen Tee als Zielgeruch anzuzeigen. Mit einer Testplattform und einer Geruchsstrecke wurden zwei unterschiedliche Testsysteme verwenden sowie gegen zwei verschiede Arten von Negativproben diskriminiert, namentlich klares Wasser sowie Verleitgerüche. Es konnten eine hohe Sensitivität (92,1%) sowie Spezifität (97.4%) erreicht werden. Die Leistung der Hunde unterschied sich statistisch nicht zwischen den beiden Testsystemen. Die Art der verwendeten Negativproben hatte ebenfalls keinen Einfluss auf das Ergebnis. Im Rahmen meiner zweiten Studie wurden sechs Hunde trainiert, brünstige Milchkühe am Geruch zu erkennen und anzuzeigen. Es wurde ein spezifisches Trainingsprotokoll entwickelt, das ein Training der Hunde für eine Suche vom Futtertisch aus ermöglichte. Vier der Hunde nahmen nach einer durchschnittlichen Trainingszeit von 50 h pro Hund an einem abschließenden Test teil. In diesem identifizierten die Hunde brünstige Kühe in 23 von 32 Fällen korrekt als brünstig (Sensitivität von 71,9%) und klassifizierten brünstige Kühe fälschlicherweise in neun Fällen als nicht-brünstig (28,1% Fehler II. Art). Von 128 nicht-brünstigen Kühen wurden 119 korrekt als nicht-brünstig klassifiziert (Spezifität von 93,0%), währen in neun Fällen nicht-brünstige Kühe fälschlicherweise als brünstig identifiziert wurden (7,0% Fehler I. Art). Um während der Durchführung der ersten und zweiten Studie gemachte Erfahrungen zu verarbeiten, sollten diejenigen Faktoren innerhalb des Trainings- und Testprozesses von Spürhunden identifiziert werden, die letztendlich zu systematischen Fehlern in Studienergebnissen führen können. Daher wurde eine Literaturrecherche und systematische Auswertung mit dem Ziel durchgeführt, Veröffentlichungen von Studien mit Spürhunden auszuwerten, um einen Best-Practice-Standard für das Durchführen solcher Studien zu empfehlen. Insgesamt konnten 54 Studien in die Auswertung einbezogen werden. Als Faktoren, die möglicherweise Auswirkungen auf das Ergebnis von Studien mit Spürhunden haben können, wurden der Zielgeruch, die Art der gestellten Geruchsaufgabe sowie der Versuchsaufbau, die für Training und Test verwendeten Geruchsproben, das Testdesign, der Hundetrainer, die verwendete Trainingsmethode sowie die verwendeten Hunderassen identifiziert. Mit diesen Ergebnissen wurde ein Best-Practice -Standard empfohlen. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass trainierte Hunde brünstige Kühe auf einem landwirtschaftlichen Betrieb mit besserer Sensitivität und Spezifität anzeigen können, als in der Regel mit konventionellen Brunstbeobachtungsmethoden erreicht werden. Die Erforschung weiterer Lösungsansätze ist notwendig, um einen optimierten Trainingsplan zu entwickeln, der das Training von Brunstsuchhunden für den praktischen Einsatz innerhalb einer angemessenen Zeit und mit konstanter Zuverlässigkeit erlaubt. Die Bedeutung von Hunden als Diagnostikum in Gebieten der Medizin und Biologie nimmt mehr und mehr zu. In jedem Fall müssen bei der Arbeit mit Spürhunden standardisierte Testcharakteristika eingehalten werden, um gültige und vergleichbare Ergebnisse zu erhalten. Wir empfehlen die Anwendung der Best- Practice-Standards, um systematische Fehler beim Training und Testen von Spürhunden so weit wie möglich zu reduzieren.

A Tudományos Diákköri Konferenciára készített dolgozatomban az ORFK Dunakeszi Oktatási Igazgatóságban kiképzett rendőrkutyák közül a német juhászkutyák, malinois-ák (belga juhászkutya) és e két fajta keverékeit hasonlítottuk össze a különböző képzettségeikhez tartozó vizsgaeredményeik alapján. Kiemelten foglalkoztam a kutyák rendőrkutya-képzésre történő kiválasztásával, ugyanis az ebeknek sok követelményt kell teljesíteniük ahhoz, hogy részt vehessenek a különböző tanfolyamokon. Erre az alkalmassági vizsgálatra a kutyák megvételekor kerül sor, amikor is már eldöntik, hogy az adott példányt milyen képzésre kívánják előterjeszteni. A Rendőrség állományában a következő rendszeresített szolgálati kutyák fordulnak elő: általános rendőrkutya, járőrkutya, nyomkövető, szagazonosító, kábítószer-kereső, bűnügyi speciális (hullakereső), közrendvédelmi speciális (elfogó) kutya, őr- és személykereső kutya. Vizsgálataim célja az volt, hogy választ kapjunk arra kérdésre, van-e eltérés a különböző genotípusú kutyák hasznosítási irányai között, azaz milyen képzettséggel rendelkeznek, valamint, hogy az adott képzésüket milyen eredménnyel fejezték be. Összesen 13 keverék, 46 malinois és 426 német juhászkutyának a vizsgaeredményeit dolgoztuk fel. A keverék kutyák példányszáma túl kevésnek bizonyult ahhoz, hogy a megfelelő statisztikai próbákat alkalmazni tudtuk volna. Azonban, a két fajtatiszta populációban sem találtunk szignifikáns eltérést arra vonatkozólag, hogy bármilyen összefüggés állna fenn az állatok fajtája és felhasználási módjuk között. A Kruskal-Wallis próbával, valamint az Anova-teszttel igazoltuk, hogy a fajta hatással van az állatok vizsgaeredményeire, azaz a két fajta teljesítménye eltérő. Az ist igazolódott, hogy a malinois-ák jobban teljesítettek a vizsgák során, mint német fajtatársaik. A tesztekből az is kiderült, hogy a vizsgaeredmények nem függetlenek az adott képzési ágtól, tehát egyes tanfolyamokon jobban felkészítik a kutyákat a vizsgára, és a leendő munkájukra. Javaslataink szerint az állatok képzése módosítható azokon a tanfolyamokon, amelyeket a kutyák rosszabb vizsgaeredménnyel zártak. A fajta és a képzettség közötti esetleges interakciót a tesztek kizárták. Annak ellenére, hogy a keverék kutyák alacsony száma miatt a teszteket nem hajthattuk végre, az tendencia látszik valószínűnek, miszerint a keverék kutyákat elsősorban olyan feladatokra alkalmazzák, ahol főleg szaglásukat kell használniuk. A keverékeknél, vizsgaeredményeik alapján, nem látható kiemelkedő teljesítmény a fajtatiszta-populációkhoz képest, s így a fajtahibridizáció miatt várt pozitív heterózishatás sem igazolható.

The bachelor thesis of mine is about dogs in sports kynologie and about effects which work upon the exercise of the dogs. It reports also on the history and contemporary form of the International Examination Rules. It describes the IPO 3 exam and then it deals with finding out which breeds are the most suitable to perform the exam and then it deals with their use for superior competitions and Championships of the Czech Republic. This part of the bachelor thesis is dedicated to a dog training, namely to one of the most important aspects, the motivation of the dog. Further it is dedicated to reflexes and disruptive effects with training. In this own thesis there are analyses of the results of superior competitons of the Czech Republic championship IPO, included the Czech Republic championship. Number, breed structure, age and gender detailes of participating dogs are followed, Through detailed observation and analysis it has been found out, that the most suitable dogs for completing this competitons with the best results possible are Alsatians and Belgian Shepherds malinois. Considering the gender, male dogs came in better than female dogs in all the analyses. The best age for the dog to participate in this competiton is the age from three to five. For coming up to the 10th place the best time is between the dog´s fifth and sixth year of age, because the dog and the handler have both certain experiences with completing exams and also competitons.

The object of my thesis was the find out process of education and training dogs in selected area, if were respondents completed any education course for dog owners, and further to find out,if their dog came in to conflict with other dog and for what situation. Questionnaire investigation was pointed on dog owners in Jindřichův Hradec and in Lodhéřov. Results shows, that somebody from respondents do not visited education course for dog owners. Dogs in the city has better education and training than dogs in the village and from this follow number of conflicts between dogs. Into conflict with other dog came 39 dogs from city and 43 dogs from village. At the most were dogs getting into conflict during the walk and most mentioned cause was intolerance between dogs.

The goal of this thesis was to ascertain the level of competence of owners in approach to the dog in selected parts of the city of České Budějovice - in Nemanice and surroundings and in Stromovka. The questionnaire was handed back by 57 dog owners, 31 owners from Nemanice and 26 owners from Stromovka. The questions concerned the dog origin, teaching of basic commands, training and the owners' reactions to situations provoked by the dog. The results show that the owners from Stromovka are more competent than the owners from Nemanice. Also the owners' reactions to common situations with the dog were more often correct in owners from Stromovka than in those from Nemanice.

Through this project -“Projekt Pedadoggen”- I have tested dog training as a pedagogical resource at Daily activities. The study was made together with a group of persons with intellectual and neuropsychiatric disabilities, whose daily activities consist of running a day-care centre for dogs. Each participator of the project trained a dog towards a specific goal. This goal was individually formulated by each participator from his or her specific interest. The participators chose to set up a show, which was planned and performed by them selves. At the end of the project the participators were interviewed about their experiences of taking part on the project. Together with notes from the training, these interviews were the foundation of the hermeneutic influenced analysis. The theoretical outpost touches job satisfaction, work-integrated learning and the role of the pedagogue. The main conclusion is that dog training can create good conditions for personal development which favour both the work-integrated learning and the lifelong learning. The role of coaching creates opportunities for personal development, among other things by giving the participators opportunities to plan, to work towards a goal, to read and adjust another individual, to improvise, to learn about exercise psychology, etcetera. The training with dogs creates lots of opportunities for interaction, for examples between the participator and participator, between the participator and the dog, and between the participator and people outside the work place. A positive aspect which was stressed by the participators is their own job satisfaction as well as the job satisfaction of the dog. They also stressed the special friendship which can develop between human and dog.

Loss of vision or a severe sight injury means a very significant change in the life of the affected person. Compensatory aids play in important part in incorporating thus handicapped people into all varieties of social life. Nowadays people with serious sight handicap can choose from many compensatory aids, optical and non-optical ones. A guiding dog is one of many possible compensations of visual defect or seriously injured eyesight. For a guiding dog to become an approved compensatory aid according to Act n. 100/1998 Sb. further specified by regulation 182/1991 Sb. two basic conditions must be fulfilled. Firstly, the dog must pass a special training with a final test and secondly the applicant must be eligible to using a dog as a compensatory aid. The paper aims at providing an illustrative outline of the most typical situations concerning owners of guiding dogs in South Bohemia. During the research the author encountered many difficulties. One of which was the lack of unity of provided services by individual organizations dealing with training of guiding dogs. The greatest differences occurred in the service when handing over the dog (the extant and details concerning documentation of the dog, the health card, the extant of information for the future owner) and in the following service when a problem arises. To fulfill the aim of the present paper a Form for semidirected interview was created, which contains 4 fields (identification data, acquisition, possession and the use of the guiding dog). The semi directed interviews were aimed at the owners of the guiding dogs. There are 27 guiding dogs in South Bohemia. The greatest number of guiding dogs is in the district of Jindřichův Hradec. The author presumes that this paper will help potential clients to orientate themselves in claiming a compensatory aid-the guiding dog. The paper is further conducted as an orientation aid for administration workers of municipal authorities with extended powers.

Many companion dogs occupy a privileged position in our society, living closely with human caretakers who go to great lengths to provide for their needs and desires. Others fare less well, being abandoned or killed, many because they are believed to exhibit behaviour problems. The aim in this study was to investigate the frequency of potentially problematic behaviours experienced by a convenience sample of companion dog owners and to establish if the presence of these behaviours was associated with demographic variables, involvement in dog training activities and participation in other dog-human interactions. Potentially problematic behaviours were reported to occur by the 413 adult participants only infrequently, but fell into five factors; disobedience, unfriendliness/aggression, nervousness, anxiety/destructiveness and excitability. Each of these factors was associated with a number of owner and dog characteristics. Engagement in training activities was predictive of lower scores being obtained for many of the behaviours, as well as increased involvement in shared activities. Some of the behaviours, particularly the perceived friendliness of the dog, were also predictive of involvement in shared activities. This confirms that strategies designed to increase participation in dog training activities and promote canine sociability may have significant benefits for both companion dog owners and their dogs.

The aim of this paper is to examine the multidimensional way of presenting dogs in selected German works. Dogs trigger a whole range of emotions in man, such as attachment and protectiveness, but also the dangerous instinct associated with the desire for power and domination. Dogs can be both devoted companions and friends to man but also objects of ruthless training. Therefore, Theodor Fontane’s and Thomas Mann’s works, which present the function of animals in a surprising light, may be an excellent point of reference.