The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of urbanization in the Czech Republic upon the co-existence of domesticated dogs and their owners. We divided the data from a questionnaire (distributed to dog owners) into rural (R, n = 164) and urban (U, n = 132). The former group comprised of dogs living in family houses with yards/gardens, the latter comprised of dogs kept in urban apartments without yards or gardens. The data were evaluated by chi-square test.The differences in living conditions of R and U dogs were derivative of different structures of the respective households. In the R group, 3.7% of dogs lived in one-person households, 42.9% in two-person, and 53.4% in households with more than two persons. By contrast in U households more dogs lived in one-person households (6.9%), 58.8% in two-member, but fewer (34.4%) lived in households with more members. In R households, more frequently other dogs also were living (R = 60.1%, U = 32.1%; χ 2 =22.929, df = 1; p < 0.001), and a linear association was found with the larger number of children and cats and other animals in the house.Although the physical and social pressures upon the U group of dogs, based on permanent dwelling in small niches of urban apartments, were very strong (Czech apartments are comfortable, but smaller than in many other European countries), we found significant changes in 23 (27.1%) of 86 behavioural traits analyzed. Among them, however, only 6 (14.6%) from among 41 traits concerned behaviours of dogs (using the furniture, sleeping in beds of family members, mounting people, growling at family members, perceiving the moods of owners, showing fear, and destroying garden less frequently). The remaining 44 traits under study concerned the behaviour of owners/family members. In this category we found 17 significant differences. Their proportion was more than 2.5 times greater (i.e. 38.6%) than that of differences in the behaviour of dogs.We concluded that although the characteristics of co-existence of people and their dogs under study have different biological significance, it is obvious that in the urbanized environment of the Czech society, as this co-existence became more intense, the contacts between people and their dogs became more intimate. Furthermore, household members changed their behaviour (i.e., showed more changes in their conduct) more than their dogs. This transformation of behaviour notwithstanding, with even more rapid urbanization of human society, dogs are still viewed as desirable and suitable companions for humans. No doubt, this is because dogs possess an outstanding social cognition vis-á-vis people and even in an urban environment they are able to adapt and thrive under new conditions of the inter-species co-existence, i.e., contributing to the human-animal bond. Behavioural traits, rural and urban living, questionnaire, human-animal bondDogs, our most ancient companions, nowadays accompany humans around the globe, under the most diverse life conditions (Matter and Daniels 2000), including relatively recen...

The epidemiology of bite wounds in dogs that resulted from intraspecies conflicts and were treated at the Small Animal Clinic, Department of Surgery and Orthopedics, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Brno was evaluated from 246 records in 1989-90 and 337 records in 1998-99. The number of bite incidents fluctuated during the year. The majority of incidents occurred in summer months, i.e. in the second (n = 149) and third (n = 193) trimester of the year. In comparison, only 119 and 122 bite victims were treated in winter months, i.e. in the first and fourth trimester, respectively. The total number of bite victims increased (p < 0.01) between the first and the second period under study. Most treated dogs belonged to small (37.9%), and large (24.8%) breeds, followed by medium-sized (19.0%), giant (11%) and toy breeds (7.3%). A high proportion of the victims were 1 year (11.4%) and 2 years (15.6%) of age, and the proportion decreased with age down to 1% at 11 years. Also, there were indicators for a sex effect. Of the 571 cases where the dog´s sex was recorded 176 concerned a female (30.3%) and 405 (69.7%) a male. For 503 dogs the positions of the wounds were recorded. A large portion of the wounds was administered to the thorax (26.6%) and head (24.30%), i.e. the frontal body parts. More than one fourth of all head wounds were in the relatively small areas around the eyes (28.7%). Fewer bites were on the limbs (17.7%), neck (17.3%) and in the abdominal regions (14.3%). These data suggest that for dogs the risk of being wounded by a conspecific differs between seasons and depends on a dog´s age, sex and body size.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the behaviour of dogs of various ages as viewed by their owners in the Czech Republic. The data were obtained in a questionnaire. The dogs were divided by age as follows: 35 animals younger than one year (Y), 220 middle-aged dogs (M), and 12 dogs, seniors (S) older than 8 years (giant and large breed dogs were included in this group at 8 years, medium at 10 years, and small and toy breeds at 12 years of age). The following significant differences were found: young dogs were destructive (household items and gardens), they eliminated in the house more frequently and mounted people. They were fed more than twice a day, and were never described as nervous. Middle-aged dogs were more often than others described as dominant and were given treats. Old dogs were most frequently described as nervous, sometimes difficult to control, and excessively barking, whining and howling. On the other hand, they were more often described as protective of the house and household members, and they were most often walked unleashed. These differences are in agreement with earlier data on the ontogeny of dog behaviour, and show some changes in the co-existence of people and dogs of various ages in Czech households. Importantly, they serve as a basic information about behaviour problems that may be encountered in veterinary practice and show a need for client education programmes and preventive behavioural medicine in the country. Young, middle-aged, old dogs, development, behavioural traits, questionnaireThe behaviour of an individual changes in the course of its life. In past decades this fact was reflected in a scientific concept of the postnatal development of behaviour in dogs divided into several periods (Scott and Marston 1950;Scott 1962). The first, postnatal period lasting two weeks, is characterized by total dependence on mother for food, temperature regulation, and elimination. The puppies spend about 90% time sleeping, and their social contacts are limited to mother. It is followed by transitional period (days 15-28) with eyes and ears opening, locomotion changing from crawling to walking and gradually less dependence on mother for food and elimination. Social contacts with mother and littermates increase in freguency and complexity. In the following socialization period between weeks 4 and 12 or 14, also weaning occurs. This period is characterized by seeking other social contacts and is behaviorally the most important stage in dog´s life (Houpt 1991;Beaver 1999). Juvenile period (3 rd to 6 th month of age) with rapid growth gradually turns into puberty around 10 months of age, then into adulthood, the relatively longest life period. It is followed by senescence the onset of which is still difficult to assess. In past decades, dozens of different tests have been described for evaluation of biological age, especially in humans. They consist mostly of variables characterizing the development of physiological functions and statistically analyzed. They are directed towards the causal scheme: m...

Holub A.: Effect of Rearing Practices on the Water Consumption by Piglets in the First Eight Weeks after Birth. Acta vet. Bmo, 59, 1990: .129-137. Water consumption was assessed in two groups of piglets during the first 8 weeks after birth. Group 1 consisted of litters suckled by the sows and receiving supplementary feeding from the 3rd week after birth. Piglets of Group 2 were reared in isolation in a thermoneutral zone from the 2nd day after birth on a 78.47 % hydrated diet that was offered to them for sucking at first ten times a day and after 4 weeks nine times a day at 2-h intervals.With advancing age. the piglets increased their water consumption mainly in dependence upon the ingestion of energy: the traditionally-reared piglets, from 0.44 (in the lst week) to 1.60 kg . d-l (in the 8th week) and the early-weaned piglets, from 0.37 to 3.52 kg • d-l during the same period. The latter began to differentiate from Group 1 animals by a larger water intake in the 3rd week.The relatively highest daily water consumption per live body mass was shown by Group 1 animals in the 2nd week (23.3 %) and by Group 2 animals in the 3rd and 4th week (27.4 and 26.5 % of live body mass, respectively). Afterwards their water consumption gradually decreased, declining to about one half of the peak value of the 8th week. Related to metabolic mass, the water consumption was even higher. In traditionally-reared piglets it reached the peak, 28.8 %, in the 2nd week. In early-weaned piglets it rose from the initial value of 24.9 to 43.2 % in the 5th week, then declined rapidly, but still accounted for 34.0 % in the 8th week.It is concluded that both traditionally-reared piglets and early-weaned piglets, in particular, show high, mainly prandially-determined water ingestion particularly in the lst postnatal month, when it is two and a half times higher than characteristic of grown-up pigs.

The objective of this study was to analyse the effect of body size of dogs on their coexistence with humans in Czech households. For this purpose we used questionnaire data on 246 dogs indicating the breed. The dogs were divided into five body size groups, i.e. toy (T, up to 5 kg body mass, n = 32), small (S, 5 -10 kg body mass, n = 52), medium size (M, 10 -17 kg body mass, n = 39), large (L, 17 -33 kg body mass, n = 70), giant (G, over 33 kg body mass, n = 53). The largest dogs surpassed the body mass of the smallest dogs at least seven times, and giant dogs weighed at least one half and toy dogs less than one tenth of the average body mass of people in the Czech human population. Despite this the majority of the studied traits regardless of body mass of the dogs showed no significant differences. In the vast majority of Czech households all dogs were considered household members, taken on travels or vacations, photographed and their birthdays were celebrated. Aggressiveness of the dogs did not correlate with their body size.Among the 84 traits of the behaviour of dogs and their owners, which were analysed, only 23, i.e. 27.4% traits were significantly related to their body mass. Larger and heavier dogs were more frequently kept in houses with yards and gardens, in rural environments. Toy and small dogs prevailed in urbanised environments, in apartments. They were allowed to use furniture, sleep in beds of household members. Moreover, toy dogs predominated in one-person households.Large dogs were more often trained, sometimes by professional trainers, obeyed commands better and were more often described as obedient. They were considered not only as companions but also as working dogs. Giant size dogs were also more often trained to be protective.These data show that the differences in the body size of dogs modified their co-existence with humans only to a limited extent.