Canine ResearchThe behavioral effects of walking on a collar and harness in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris)
Introduction
Domestic dogs are a popular pet in the United Kingdom with almost a quarter of households owning a dog (PFMA, 2014). Walking a dog is generally considered an essential part of owning a dog (e.g., DEFRA, 2013, Kennel Club UK, 2014, RSPCA, 2014). Various restraints are used when walking dogs on leashes, most commonly, collars (head or neck) and harnesses.
The type of restraint used is of potential importance as it may have a detrimental effect on canine welfare. Although a leash attached to a neck collar is the most common form of restraint in most countries, concern has been raised over the potential for them to cause damage to the neck and trachea (Landsberg et al., 2013). Neck collars can also have a negative effect on the welfare of individuals with eye conditions, such as glaucoma or weak corneas (Pauli et al., 2006). Head collars or harnesses may also be more suitable for specific breeds of dog, such as those possessing slim delicate necks, which may potentially be damaged by collars. Whether specific forms of restraint affect canine welfare is of obvious concern. In addition, recent legislation requiring dogs to be restrained by a leash on public land (UK Government, 2015) highlights the importance of determining if there are welfare concerns inherent in the use of different restraint types.
Previous research has looked into the behavioral and physiologic responses of dogs wearing head and neck collars (Ogburn et al., 1998, Haug et al., 2002). No marked physiologic differences were found between dogs wearing either of these collar types although dogs were more unruly and disobedient when wearing the neck collar, while fought the leash and pawed at their noses more when wearing a head collar (Ogburn et al., 1998). No behavioral differences were found between dogs when comparing 4 different types of head collars (Haug et al., 2002).
Harnesses are often proposed to be a more welfare-friendly method of restraint; however, to our knowledge, no previous studies have examined the behavioral responses of dogs to harnesses. The objective of this study was to determine whether being walked on neck collars or harnesses causes stress in dogs. Neck collars were used as a standard of comparison because of their widespread use as a form of restraint. Behavioral responses between dogs currently walked on a neck collar or a harness (e.g., during the study trials) and dogs with a history of being walked on neck collar or harness (e.g., on previous walks before the study trials) were assessed.
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Subjects
Dog owners were recruited using opportunistic sampling from veterinary surgeries around Malvern, United Kingdom, and via promotion on the social media site Facebook. The subjects consisted of 30 privately owned dogs, 19 males (14 neutered and 5 entire) and 11 females (9 neutered and 2 entire) ranging in age from 18 months to 11 years. Purebred dogs constituted 50% of the sample, with the remaining dogs being cross or mixed breeds. Participants were adult dogs (older than 18 months), healthy,
Results
No occurrences of vocalizations or low body position were observed in any of the dogs under any of the conditions; therefore, these were excluded from the analysis. No significant differences were found between restraint history and restraint conditions for any of the behavioral indicators bar ears back behavior. The mean frequency of the behavioral stress indicators tended to be low in both collar and harness trial conditions (yawning: harness = 0.83, collar = 0.69; low tail position:
Discussion
Neck collars are widely used as a form of canine restraint, but concerns have been raised about their use (e.g., Pauli et al., 2006, Landsberg et al., 2013). Harnesses are an alternative form of restraint, which have been anecdotally proposed to be better for canine welfare. In this study, no significant differences in behavior were found between dogs walked on either a neck collar or a harness. The lack of stress responses shown under either condition suggests that dog welfare is not
Conclusions
Based on the findings of this study, it seems that, at least for the specific harness and collar trialed, neither collar nor harness results in a difference in the dogs' behavioral stress responses. Considering the low levels of frequencies of stress indicators displayed by the dogs, this is suggestive that neither restraint type is causing dogs stress. However, further research into the long-term behavioral, and the physiologic, effects of neck collar and harness use would be beneficial.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank all the participants for enabling this research to be undertaken. The authors also thank Dog Games Ltd for funding the study and providing the walking restraints. The study sponsors promoted the study idea and funded the undertaking of this research as part of the postgraduate studies of one of their employees who collected the data and contributed to the study design, interpretation of data, writing of the manuscript, and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
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