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

Abstract

In some guide dog organisations, future guide dogs for blind individuals are required to undergo separation from their foster family from Monday to Friday as part of their training. These separations and the constantly changing environment may induce stress, thus impacting the welfare of these dogs and their performance. The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate this stress through physiological and behavioural measures. The results showed a significant increase in salivary cortisol levels at the time of separation (GLMM; DF = 2; F = 10.31; p < 0.0001). Additionally, the dogs were more passive on Friday than on other days (GLMM; DF = 2; F = 7.53; p = 0.0090), and “head movements” were expressed less frequently on Fridays (GLMM; DF = 2; F = 5.12; p = 0.0141). Performance increased across weeks, despite a lower “focused” score on Mondays (GLMM; DF = 2; F = 4.39; p = 0.0243). These results showed both adaptation to life in the kennel and that the dogs need to readapt to the situation each week. The increase in serotonin levels during the 3 weeks of testing (GLMM; DF = 2; F = 4.87; p = 0.0224) may also indicate that the dogs can adapt to the kennel environment. Therefore, this study questions the relevance of noncontinuous training programmes. In future research, it would be interesting to compare these results with those of a group of dogs staying at school on weekends.