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Conservation Detection Dogs (CDDs) are trained to locate biological material from plants and animals relevant to conservation efforts. CDDs can be more effective and more economical than other survey methods, yet financial costs associated with training and maintaining CDDs, while meeting their welfare needs, can prohibit their use. It takes a great deal of time and effort to train operational CDDs, but an important foundational skill is being able to detect a target odor in controlled conditions. In this study we developed and evaluated a program in which community volunteers trained their own companion dog in such a task. Following an initial assessment, 19 dog-handler teams were selected to work with two professional CDD trainers in a 12-week training program. Teams were assessed in Weeks 8 and 12 in scent board and room search activities. Seventeen teams completed the full program and located the target odor in a minimum of 75% of all search trials in which the odor was present. Search performance was re-assessed in 11 teams after a 14-week period without maintenance training, with no significant reduction in performance being found in search time, proportion of correct responses or number of false alerts. These results suggest that companion dogs can be successfully trained to locate a target odor in controlled conditions in 12 weeks and that this skill is retained for at least several months. While this is a far cry from what might be expected of a fully operational CDD, it is an important first step in demonstrating that a volunteer training model may provide one way to help address financial limitations and welfare implications that can be associated with professional CDDs, while engaging community members in important and sustainable conservation work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clicker training is an animal training technique derived from mechanized laboratory-based studies of animal learning. However, clicker training in the real world often takes place with a human trainer in an environment that is not as well controlled as a laboratory. Attempts to empirically evaluate applied clicker training techniques using testing protocols adapted from laboratory-based studies have been largely unsuccessful in replicating the learning benefits seen in laboratory animals. One proposed explanation for these inconsistencies is that methods used in the scientific evaluation of clicker training, and methods used by trainers in the industry, are not the same. The purpose of the present study was to determine what clicker training is, why people use it, and what methods are considered best practice in the context of applied dog training. A total of 586 dog owners and dog training professionals completed an online questionnaire. The results suggest that individuals do neither restrict the definition of clicker training with training using a clicker device but also include alternative signals such as verbal markers. Overall, individuals reported that clicker training was successful but acknowledged that certain handler skills need to be mastered before a person should begin clicker training with a dog. Survey respondents also showed substantial methodological variety in how they believed clickers should ideally be used. Systematic investigation into these methodological differences, along with empirical assessment of purported benefits, is now required so that evidence-based best practice recommendations in clicker training can be developed. Closer alignment between scientists and practitioners is likely to benefit both groups and the many animals that are currently trained for companion and working roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owner practices affect pet welfare, and little is known about the ways in which reptile owners attempt to meet their pet's welfare needs. We asked 316 pet lizard owners in Victoria, Australia, for information on the ways in which they seek to meet their pet's environmental, dietary, behavioral, social, and health needs. Items were generated based on the Victorian Code of Practice (CoP) for the Private Keeping of Reptiles and in collaboration with the then President of the Victorian Herpetological Society. Results suggest that many owners are not fully complying with the CoP. Moreover, even those who are compliant may not be meeting their animal's full repertoire of needs. Nearly half of the owners do not have an enclosure large enough to meet the standards set in the CoP, and a similar percentage do not seasonally vary the environmental conditions provided in their lizard's enclosure. It is likely, therefore, that many lizards experience captivity-related stress because of inadequate enclosures. Many owners underestimate the likely total cost of their pet lizard over the course of its lifetime, suggesting that educational campaigns highlighting the financial and time costs of lizard ownership are merited. Future behavioral research should aim to better understand pet lizard needs to optimize welfare outcomes for these animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is often assumed that pet dogs experience better welfare than livestock production animals because many owners consider them to be members of the family and, collectively, spend billions of dollars on them annually. However, this assumption is not based on scientific evidence, and a scientifically validated tool for assessing the welfare of companion dogs is currently lacking. Because dogs are extremely variable in type, and because they live in human homes and their owners engage in a variety of management practices, developing a standardized audit system may be impossible. However, the 5 freedoms, often used to evaluate the welfare of animals in livestock systems, could provide a simple framework for starting to develop such an instrument. A first step is establishing baseline data on ways in which dog owners attempt to meet their pet's needs. For this reason, we used a representative sample of participants (n = 645, representing 800,000 dog owners) from Victoria, a state in south-eastern Australia, and administered an online survey to determine how owners manage their dog's environmental, diet and exercise, behavioral, social, and health needs. Descriptive statistics enabled us to identify patterns in the data. From these results, some dog management variables which could impact the welfare of a large number of dogs in Victoria were selected for comparison based on owner gender, using t tests, and owner age groups, using 1-way analyses of variance. Owners typically appear to be effectively meeting their dog's needs, but with notable exceptions. For instance, 26% of owners report that their dog roams free when outside the home. In addition, 85% of owners indicate that their dog is neither overweight nor underweight, even though research suggests that up to 40% of dogs are obese. This may mean that some owners are unaware of what an ideal body condition looks like. Nearly, half (49%) of our sample reported that their dog sometimes or often exhibits fear of loud noises, and 35% reported that it sometimes or often barks excessively. Male owners were more likely than female owners to report that their dog frequently exhibits a range of undesirable behaviors, such as excessive anxiety or distress when left alone, destructive behaviors, and aggression. However, female owners leave their dog at home without human company for longer periods of time than male owners. Younger owners were more likely than older owners to agree that taking care of their dog is more difficult than they expected it to be, and less likely to report that they are satisfied with their dog's behavior. These results can be used to inform educational campaigns, and they can be compared to results of similar studies across time or different places, although we recommend that future research should incorporate additional objective measures of welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although cats are commonly kept as pets, the extent to which they experience optimal welfare is not well researched. Owner management practices are likely to affect the welfare outcomes of pet cats. The aim of this study was to determine different ways in which pet cat owners attempt to meet their cat's environmental, diet and exercise, behavioral, social, and health needs, using a representative sample of owners in Victoria, Australia. A sample of 488 Victorian pet cat owners (40.0% male), representing 611,000 households, completed an online survey detailing their cat management practices. Descriptive data were used to understand trends in pet keeping practices, and correlations established relationships between demographic variables and pet practices. Our results suggest that Victorians are mostly effectively managing their pet cats, but some common practices could adversely affect pet cat welfare. Nearly half (49%) of all owners reported that their cat roams freely outdoors, which could result in injuries to the cat. Furthermore, 39% of owners indicated that their cat is moderately supervised, not very well supervised, or not supervised at all, during interactions with children. This could result in injuries to the cat through rough play, or to the child through scratches. Female owners were more likely than male owners to rate highly on statements regarding their ability to care for their cat and their satisfaction with the cat's behavior. They also reported a lower frequency of behavioral problems, and a more recent check and/or treatment for parasites. Older owners were less likely than younger owners to have lost a pet cat that they could not find, or to leave their cat without human company for long periods. However, they were more likely to report a high frequency of behavioral problems in their cat than young owners. These data could be used to compare changing practices over time, and help determine the effectiveness, or otherwise, of educational campaigns targeted at improving pet cat welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Dog (Canis familiaris) cognition research that examines whether dogs are able to use a mirror as a problem-solving tool is rare. The aim of this study was to explore whether dogs could find food that was visible only via a mirror at the beginning of the experiment. In a laboratory setting, we exposed 44 dogs to a large mirror, attached at a 90° angle to an opaque barrier for 10 minutes. Dogs were allowed complete freedom of movement. For the first minute of the exposure phase, the owner and experimenter stood against a wall, ignoring the dog; afterward, both walked around the room for 9 minutes. The dogs could observe their movements in the mirror. Then, dogs were taught to associate a bowl with food, after which the bowl was surreptitiously placed behind the barrier, and the dogs were positioned so that they could see the reflection of the food in the mirror. Dogs were pseudorandomly assigned to the experimental group (n = 22) as described or a control group (n = 22), which was identical except that the mirror was covered during the testing phase. In the testing phase, dogs that could see the mirror were more likely to find the treat than dogs that could not (P = 0.032). Although fewer dogs in the control condition found the food, those that did were just as likely as those in the mirror condition to locate it within 3 minutes. This suggests that, although dogs' food-searching behavior can be triggered by the mirror's visual cues to locate food, some dogs used other cues that we were unable to control. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The ability of animals to use a mirror, either as a problem-solving tool or for the purposes of self-recognition, has been tested in several species. However, there are no empirical reports of studies using mirrors with companion dogs, which differ from most animals in that they are from infancy often kept in complex environments containing many reflective surfaces, including household mirrors. We used a simple repeated measures design, with no pre-training, to test whether pet dogs (n = 40) understand the concept of reflection. Each dog accompanied their owner into a room containing a large covered mirror. They were given 1 minute to explore the room, following which the mirror was uncovered. After another minute of exploration, the dog was motivated to attend to the mirror by the owner. A second owner then appeared in an adjoining room displaying the dog’s favourite toy. The second owner stood behind the dog but could be seen in the reflective surface of the mirror. Dogs were more likely to attend to the mirror when the second owner was visible than when the owner was not visible in the mirror. Seven dogs turned away from the mirror to look toward the actual location of the owner. Of these, 2 then attended to the owner in the window more than the mirror. It is possible that these 2 dogs understood the real location of the owner and, therefore, the nature of reflection. However, none of these responses was completely unambiguous and most dogs tested showed no evidence of a capacity to spontaneously use the mirror to locate the second owner. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Understanding the psychology of the domestic dog is a key element in both research and clinical applications for veterinary behaviorists. This article summarizes social cognitive skills observed in dogs in recent cognition studies. The tasks are grouped into the following 2 categories: those which facilitate eye contact between dogs and human beings, and social learning tasks. We also describe easy-to-implement experimental paradigms, previously used in cognitive tests for adult dogs, which we recommend adapting for use with puppies as young as 3 weeks of age. We highlight specific ways by which breeders may alter setup of these tasks to further generalize the social cognitive benefits for the puppies. Furthermore, studies of social development in puppies would enable researchers to explore whether encouragement of the skills examined have a positive effect on behavior as adults, and should thus be specifically incorporated into socialization practices by all breeders and new owners. Thus, the practical applications of this knowledge could include informing best practices for early age socialization by breeders, while puppies are still in the litter, and by new owners when they initially acquire a puppy. This could potentially increase the number of dogs that are well adjusted for human society and thus reduce the number surrendered to shelters. Finally, we discuss the ethical implications of working with puppies in particular and with companion animals generally; the positioning of veterinary clinicians and researchers between the scientific and lay worlds can improve understanding within the community of the benefits that minimally invasive companion animal research can provide. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]