Do assistance dogs show work overload? Canine blood prolactin as a clinical parameter to detect chronic stress-related response.

Mengoli, Manuel; Mendonça, Tiago; Oliva, Jessica Lee; Bienboire-Frosini, Cécile; Chabaud, Camille; Codecasa, Elisa; Jochem, M.; Cozzi, Alessandro; Pageat, Patrick

doi:10.1079/9781786394583.0112

Cited by 3 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…On the contrary, recent studies [20] highlighted that in sheltered castrated male dogs' PRL concentrations correlate neither to stress scores nor to fear behaviors, and that a weak negative correlation between cortisol and prolactin levels was possible. In previous research, we found that AD presented higher levels of blood PRL than a pet dog population in a controlled situation [11,21], emphasizing the interest of further investigating this neuromodulator.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…It was shown that aggressive dogs had significantly lower serum concentrations of 5-HT than non-aggressive dogs [24,26]. For AD, intraspecific and interspecific aggression are unacceptable behaviors, that are unequivocally associated with dogs' rejections, with the animal exiting the educational program and the school [6,11]. Therefore, we found it crucial to assess this neuromodulator in AD as a part of the dog's emotional evaluation before and during their educational training.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Breeds are often selected for assistance work on the basis of the degree of expression of these characteristics [9]. Individual characteristics will also influence the breeding and the educational protocols, with many dogs that fail, then are rejected or reoriented (to other assistance activities or offered for adoption) [7,10]: for instance, currently, the French guide dogs network face an approximate 40 percent loss of dogs due to physical or behavioral problems [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beyond that, we thought establishing the neurohormonal profile of AD may help assess their future chance of success such that AD selection before entering the educational program may be refined. That is particularly important considering the percent of failures and the cost of this loss [11,21]. In addition, using neurohormonal profiling to evaluate their emotional responses to the workload and challenging situations they face during their training may help assess their welfare.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Neurohormonal Profiles of Assistance Dogs Compared to Pet Dogs: What Is the Impact of Different Lifestyles?

Mengoli

Oliva

Mendonça

et al. 2021

Animals

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Assistance dogs must manage stress efficiently because they are involved in challenging tasks. Their welfare is currently a fundamental issue. This preliminary study aimed to compare assistance dogs (AD; n = 22) with pet dogs (PD; n = 24), using blood neuromodulator indicators to help find biomarkers that can improve the AD breeding, selection, training, and welfare monitoring. Both populations originated from different breeds, are of different ages, and had different lifestyles. Basal peripheral concentrations of prolactin (PRL), serotonin (5-HT), free (fOT) and total (tOT) oxytocin were measured by immunoassays. Multiple linear regressions were performed to assess the effect of activity, age, sex, and their interactions on these parameters. Correlations between neurohormonal levels were analyzed. No interactions were significant. fOT and tOT concentrations were significantly influenced by age (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.0002, respectively) and dogs’ activity (p = 0.0006 and p = 0.0277, respectively). A tendency was observed for age effect on PRL (p = 0.0625) and 5-HT (p = 0.0548), as well as for sex effect on tOT (p = 0.0588). PRL concentrations were heterogenous among AD. fOT and tOT were significantly but weakly correlated (Pearson’s r = 0.34; p = 0.04). Blood prolactin, serotonin, and oxytocin may represent biomarkers to assess workload and chronic stress-related responses in ADs and eventually improve their selection and training.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Neurohormonal Profiles of Assistance Dogs Compared to Pet Dogs: What Is the Impact of Different Lifestyles?

Mengoli

Oliva

Mendonça

et al. 2021

Animals

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“…In addition, anxious dogs displaying signs such as stereotypes, displacement activities, various autonomic disorders, and fear aggression, have an increase in prolactin blood levels [25]. Assistance dogs seem to have higher mean prolactin blood levels than pet dogs, suggesting a possible role of canine blood prolactin as an index of stress-related responses in dogs [26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of Prolactin in Canine Saliva: Is It Possible to Use a Commercial ELISA Kit?

Gutiérrez

Gazzano

Torracca

et al. 2019

Animals

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Prolactin has been reported to be a remarkable index of stress response, both acute and chronic, in several species. The use of biological matrixes other than blood is receiving increasing interest in the study of hormones, due to the lower invasiveness in collection. This research aimed to investigate the possibility of using a commercial ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) kit for measuring canine prolactin in blood for the quantification of canine prolactin in saliva. Study 1 consisted of a validation protocol, using saliva samples collected from lactating and non-lactating dogs. Study 2 was conducted to investigate a possible correlation between prolactin concentration in saliva and plasma in sheltered dogs by using the same kit. Prolactin values were reliably read only when they came from blood samples, not from saliva, but tended to be low in most of the cases. Study 1 showed that saliva had a matrix effect. In study 2, saliva prolactin levels were low and in 42.9% of cases, not readable. No correlation between prolactin values in plasma and saliva was found (ρ=0.482; p=0.274). These findings suggested that the determination of prolactin in dog saliva through an ELISA kit created for measuring prolactin in dog blood was unreliable.

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Repeated separations between a future guide dog and its foster family modify stress-related indicators and affect dog’s focus

Menuge

Marcet-Rius

Chabaud

et al. 2021

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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Do assistance dogs show work overload? Canine blood prolactin as a clinical parameter to detect chronic stress-related response.

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Neurohormonal Profiles of Assistance Dogs Compared to Pet Dogs: What Is the Impact of Different Lifestyles?

Neurohormonal Profiles of Assistance Dogs Compared to Pet Dogs: What Is the Impact of Different Lifestyles?

Determination of Prolactin in Canine Saliva: Is It Possible to Use a Commercial ELISA Kit?

Repeated separations between a future guide dog and its foster family modify stress-related indicators and affect dog’s focus

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