Long-term stress levels are synchronized in dogs and their owners

[Jones]

Something that I became more acutely aware of with my last dog - my emotional state definitely impacted hers. If she started acting out, I learned to check in with myself.

Discussion
Through assessment of cortisol concentration in hair of both dogs and their owners, we found an interspecific long-term stress hormone synchronization within the dog-human dyad (Fig. 5). This was observed in two different seasons within one year and was not related to the dogs’ physical activity level. There was also a seasonal effect, and dog HCC was higher during the winter months. Additionally, we show that owner’s personality rather than dog’s personality affects HCC, and therefore suggest that dogs mirror the stress of their owners. Our results are the first demonstration of a long-term synchronization in stress levels between members of two different species.

The evidence of short-term stress contagion within a species is compelling5 and Buttner, et al.9 shows that there is also a cortisol synchronization between species, namely between handlers and their dogs during agility competition. However, this can partly be caused by the mutual physical activity during such a competition and does not necessarily reflect contagious effects of psychological stress. Here, we found synchronized long-term stress levels in dog-human dyads, containing both pet and competing dogs of two different dog breeds, providing further evidence to the strong relationship between humans and dogs. Long-term stress contagion has previously been shown between human mothers and both their infants13 and their older children12. However, this is the first study on long-term interspecies stress synchronization.

While there was a synchronization for all tested groups of dogs, the synchrony was affected by sex and lifestyle. The HCC of both male and female dogs was synchronized with owner HCC, but the association was stronger in female dogs. Furthermore, in general, female dogs showed a higher cortisol concentration than male dogs. Indeed, studies on other species have previously suggested that, compared to males, females show a higher emotional responsivity. This is found in humans19, chimpanzees20, and rats21, and it has been suggested that the ultimate cause is the different social roles of males and females22. Within the human-dog dyad, oxytocin administration in dogs has a pronounced effect on female dogs’ interaction with their owner, and, in addition, an increase in owner oxytocin concentration, but there is no similar effect in males23. Thus, both our results and those of Nagasawa, et al.23 show that dogs’ sex affects hormonal synchronization.

The interaction between lifestyle and human HCC on dog HCC suggests a stronger association in cortisol synchronization among competing dyads than among pet dyads. It may be that competing owners and their dogs spend more time together engaging in the same tasks. Indeed, training may increase emotional closeness as earlier suggested by Meyer and Forkman16 and thereby generate a stronger synchronization. Similarly, Roth, et al.15 found that competing dogs have higher HCC than other dogs. Of course, the difference between competing and pet dogs may not only be the lifestyle in itself, they may also differ in traits not covered within the scope of this study. Certain traits may make a dog more suitable for canine sports that may also affect the stress response.

The HCC could not be related to the dogs’ physical activity obtained by smart collars or the training frequency reported by the owners. We did, however, find characteristics that significantly affected dog HCC. Interestingly, we show that owner personality, or more specifically, the traits Neuroticism, Openness and Conscientiousness, influence long-term cortisol concentrations in the dog. Both Kotrschal, et al.24 and Schöberl, et al.17 found that cortisol concentration in morning saliva is lower in dogs with more owners scoring high on Neuroticism. This is in line with our results, and owners that scored high on Neuroticism also had dogs with low HCC. There is some indication that humans scoring high on Neuroticism form a strong attachment bond to their dogs and that these individuals, to a greater extent than others, use their dog as a social supporter whilst also simultaneously functioning as a social supporter for their dog24. This, in turn, may lead to a positive modulation of the stress response for both parties.

We also found a positive association between dog HCC and scores on both Openness and Conscientiousness in the owners, but whereas Neuroticism affected HCC from both sampling occasions, Openness and Conscientiousness only had an effect on winter samples. Additionally, similarly to what was reported by Roth, et al.15, there was a seasonal effect on dog HCC and cortisol was higher during the winter months. This was significant for the Shetland sheepdogs but not for the border collies. It could be speculated that some dogs are more affected by cold winter temperatures, but future studies will need to disentangle seasonal effects to reveal possible causations.

There were significant interactions between personality traits and sex, where HCC in male and female dogs was differently affected by owner personality. Schöberl, et al.17 found that owner cortisol was lower in women owning male dogs. We only included female owners, but our results are still in line with this observation. Contrary to owner personality, dog personality traits had little effect on dog HCC and consistent with previous studies there was no significant correlations between short-term cortisol concentrations and dog personality17,25,26.

Questionnaires are at a risk of being biased by the person completing them and, in this study, both dog and owner personality surveys were completed by the same person. However, both surveys have been validated and the questions are formulated differently in the two, hence, it is unlikely that answering one questionnaire has influenced the owner when completing the other.

The facts that we observe synchronization between dog and human cortisol concentrations and that characteristics of the owner rather than those of the dog are related to dog cortisol levels, make us suggest that it is the dogs that mirror the stress levels of their owners rather than the opposite. This may be relevant from the perspective of the welfare of dogs since stress and related health issues are of great concern in today’s human society. From the human’s point of view, the dog is an important social supporter, has positive effects on learning ability and several health aspects24,27,28,29. From the dog’s point of view, there are indeed several positive effects of the human-dog interaction30,31, but our results suggest human-dog matches may be important for the stress levels of dogs.

Conclusion
Our results show that long-term stress hormone levels were synchronized between dogs and humans, two different species sharing everyday life. This could not be explained by either physical activity or by the amount of training. Since the personality of the owners was significantly related to the HCC of their dogs, we suggest that it is the dogs that mirror the stress levels of their owners rather than the owners responding to the stress in their dogs. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show interspecies synchronization of long-term stress.

The full paper:

Long-term stress levels are synchronized in dogs and their owners - Scientific Reports

This study reveals, for the first time, an interspecific synchronization in long-term stress levels. Previously, acute stress, has been shown to be highly contagious both among humans and between individuals of other species. Here, long-term stress synchronization in dogs and their owners was...

www.nature.com

 

[Jasophoria]

Also cats.
When i am stressed, my cat starts to vomit, even when i am not home.
I am in a very stressful period right now.
I was with my parents for the weekend.
When i came home, there was vomit on the floor.
After i came home, she vomited 3 times more.

 

[Laura]

My poor collie, Cherie, after my back and hip injuries, suffered a dislocated hip. She was running to chase the ball, her foot got caught in a mole hole, and wham!

The vet put it back in and she was confined a bit with bandaging, but it popped back out. It was ruined, basically. So, she had to have surgery. Then, she wasn't recovering well from her surgery and we found out she had female issues, infection, etc. So she had a second surgery. She still wasn't pulling out of it, so we started her on injections of actovegin daily. At the same time, I was pulling out of my terrible injuries and doing autohemotherapy.

The end result was that we both pretty much got better at the same time. And the funny thing is that it was her left leg and my left leg.

 

[Jones]

Yeah, my left leg is my weakest and my old dog started showing slight signs of loss of proprioception in her rear left at around 4yo - approx 2009. I didn't make the connection between us until I read about it in a C's session I think - I've searched for that session but haven't found it.

 

[loreta]

And the contrary also. When I do my meditation or my puzzle and I am calm, when I read, my dogs are calm, also in a meditative mood.

 

[Alejo]

Same here,

My two pups react to my emotional state quite amazingly. It’s particularly noticeable when I’m walking and I’m rushing because I woke up late or something. I’m rushing and stressed out and they behave erratically and we disagree a lot, and not only in I want to walk fast and they want to walk at their own pace.

Nope, they’re more protective and anxious, and want to switch the usual morning route, or pull way to hard.

 

[Leelee]

I have noticed so many times over the years a kind of symbiosis with my pets. We call one of our cats the nurse. She is rather stand offish normally, definitely not a lap cat, but if someone is sick or stressed; she immediately hops on their lap or if lying down, will jump up and lay across the chest. One time I was lying down feeling perfectly fine and she jumped up and laid across my chest, and I thought, “well, I must have something going on”. Another time a friend was visiting for a few days who was very out of sorts. She was pinging off the walls, nervous, irritable, difficult to be with. I noticed that my cat, one who is particularly close to me, was following me everywhere. When the friend finally (thankfully) left, this cat, who was always in perfect health, immediately came down with a serious case of pancreatitis. He was in the hospital for several days, but thankfully recovered. I always wondered if he was shielding me from my friend’s energy, or somehow “took a hit” for me? I always tell my pets if that’s what you’re doing, please don’t! I don’t think they always listen though.

 

[loreta]

Look how your dog is behaving and you will know what is happening. They have antennae and see things that we are unable to perceive. Cats also. One day a couple of friends (that are not anymore friends) came to see us. They stay at home a weekend. She, a doctor, was a sort of vampire. I felt sick after they left, without energy. During their stance at home my dog, a Belgian Shepherd named Laika, stayed far away from them in a room. How strange I felt to see my dog behaving like that, she that was so communicative. But not this time. After that I knew why. Be aware of your dogs with other people! They are like mirrors. Fantastic beasts they are!

 

[Jones]

It's true that dogs can be good judges of character, but not every reaction that a dog has to people is a judgement on the person though. Dogs are just as susceptible to amygdala hijack as we are. I've worked with a dog that had fear aggression to people wearing hats or glasses, and one of the case studies that was presented when I was studying was a dog that triggered aggression towards people who had eaten pizza - the dog could smell it on them.

I taught my dog to default to me in situations that she found stressful as part of training in drive. It was a matter of knowing where her stress thresholds were and how she communicated that stress. I couldn't protect her from all stress and sometimes I had to ask her to endure it eg. Vet visits, or environments that we couldn't otherwise change or get out of in a hurry. Also some of her stress reactions were due to socialisation errors that I made - situations that I exposed her to during critical periods that I shouldn't have in retrospect.

Since she was a big, strong dog, allowing her to deal with her stress triggers in a doggy way by using her mouth to solve her problems could have been dangerous because she was also very fast and agile. So having her default to me to make the big decisions was helpful and helped her be more relaxed. Also it meant that she could decide when she'd had enough and she could come to me to deal with the situation - and that increased her trust in me. She wasn't an aggressive dog by any means and apart from barking, where she could put on an impressive show, she was more inclined to use her feet to solve her problems than her mouth. However, that doesn't mean that she wouldn't use her mouth if she were either cornered or surprised by a sudden trigger or stress had accumulated beyond her threshold point.

In any case all of the above meant that I also had to be very aware of my anxiety and work on that. The combination of working on that and focusing on my dog to help her manage stressful situations helped. For her, teaching her to look at me and hold eye contact meant that the impact of her stress triggers was diluted - it's harder to trigger a stress reaction if you can't focus on the trigger. It also meant that if she did look at me and hold eye contact outside of training sessions, I became more situationally aware to figure out what was going on in the environment to stress her. Sometimes it was my anxiety that was stressing her!

In any case, here's the foundational program I used to teach her to focus on me. I didn't find this until my dog was around 18 months old IIRC. The earlier a dog is started on it the better the results generally.

k9protraining.com.au

k9protraining.com.au

 

[Jones]

Here's a table describing temperament characteristics of dogs that can impact their reactions.

 

[Jones]

There's also lots of information in the following to help figure out a dogs temperament based on different drives and the strengths or intensity of the drive. The man that developed this test, Lou Castle, was a police dog trainer for approx. 30 years and when he retired from that he trained search and rescue dogs. I don't suggest anyone put a dog through this test, I haven't and wouldn't because I have no desire to train a dog in this field, but it can show what type of things to look for when trying to figure out a dogs temperament while you're watching them in the environment. It's also good to use to help establish the differences in temperament and drives between you and a dog.

“My Stake Out Test” is designed to test the dog to see what drives he operates in during stressful situations. It’s designed to find my idea of the “perfect dog” for police service. It is designed to break the spirit of every dog that I test. I will apply so much pressure that only the toughest of dogs can pass the test. I will, of course, not break the dog down completely. When a dog shows some weakness, I apply a bit more pressure to confirm what I am seeing. I will then flee and give him some agitation to bring him back up.

In other words, he lets the dog win the confrontation in order to restore it's confidence so it doesn't take any new stress triggers away from the experience.

For police service I choose a dog that is high in fight drive. I like some prey drive as it makes it easier to play with a ball to relieve the stress of training. Some defense drive is acceptable but if there is more than a little, it’s too much. It’s O.K. if there is absolutely no defense drive.

Defence drive is a very unstable drive as it is fear based and regardless of whether the dog is aggressing or trying to escape, it has very little self control or ability to follow directions by a handler.

The next bit is the test set up.

For a home protection dog, less fight drive and more defense is acceptable than for a service dog. I can make a viable argument that both dogs should be the same but since the police dog needs to regard “wherever he happens to find himself” as his territory, he needs to be a little tougher.

I take the dog to a strange area, somewhere he’s never been before, and stake him out. I prefer to use chain link fence because it spreads the strain out and has some give to it. I have the dog wearing a heavy leather collar, usually mine, cause I don’t trust someone else’s, and a heavy choke chain. I double hook the dog, into both the leather collar and the dead ring of the choke, in case one breaks. I usually use a wire cable for the tie out but it’s not all that important. What is important is that the dog cannot, under any circumstances, get loose.

I place a reed stick on the ground a few feet outside the dog’s reach for later, possible use.

Then I have the owner/handler/anyone the dog is familiar with, leave he area so he is completely out of sight/smell of the dog. I want the dog to be on his own, with no support from anyone.

I then wait about 10-15 minutes for the dog to settle down.

Then I walk onto the field appearing about 40-50 yards from the dog and angling slightly away from him.

I am not wearing any training equipment. I even make it a point to wear short sleeves so that the dog has no chance to cue on equipment. (bite sleeve etc)

I pay no attention to the dog, watching only out of the corner of my eye. I would prefer that he pay attention to me, but it’s not essential since I am no threat, not near him and walking so that I am moving away from him.

Then I stop and turn towards him. I think of stalking him, as if he were food that I was hunting. My body language communicates that to him. The dog should look at me at that point.

Next he starts describing temperament and drive reactions to his play acting.

I then angle towards him, mostly moving parallel to the fence he’s tied to but not completely. I approach at less than 45 degrees I guess. At some point as I get closer, he better start paying attention to me or he flunks.

At some point during this crossing I will stop and turn full-on to the dog. I make myself as big as possible and try to dominate him from a distance. At this point if a dog has “weak nerves” he will start to show some weakness.

I’m about 25-30 yards from the dog and no real threat, but I’ve had some dogs try and leave. They hit the end of the leash trying to flee. If that occurs I run away, looking as scared as I can. I may pause and let him chase me off the field. I don’t want to destroy someone else’s dog.

A strong dog will do one of two things. He can bark at me or he can just stand his ground and look at me.

A dog that has had some civil training (without any equipment) may respond as he has been trained.

A dog that is full of fight drive (a willingness to accept a challenge) who has had not training of any kind will say, (to himself of course) “What is this guy about? He’s acting kind of weird so I better keep my eye on him.” I am not yet close enough to be any kind of a threat so he is not required to try and chase me away.

A dog that is defense drive oriented will probably be on his feet, growling and barking at me. He will betray himself by his growling and probably will “show some hair.” That is, the hair on his neck, scruff and back may be standing up. A dog that does this is trying to make himself look bigger in order to bluff me that he is bigger than he really is. Many animals do this and they are pure bluff. Some lizards, some snakes, a few mammals.

This dog also flunks.

I will do a runaway to bring him back up.

I continue to zigzag back and forth as I approach closer and closer always coming in at an angle.

Other signs of weakness are shown by avoidance or coupling. Avoidance is when the dog suddenly pretends I’m not there. It’s usually pretty casual and occurs when I am more than 20 yards away although it can occur closer. The dog just turns his back on me as if I wasn’t there anymore. This dog I will agitate, if he has had some training, or just run away to build him back up. Some dogs will show coupling, urinating or defecating as part of their ignoring me. As soon as they’re finished I will agitate and run to build them back up.

I continue to zigzag and approach. A prey drive dog and a fight drive dog may look identical to an onlooker. They look very similar from my viewpoint, until I get very close.

At some point, if the dog has passed all the intermediate distances, I get to within inches of the dog. I try to get as big as I can, standing up straight and tall and extending my arms over my head. I stare straight into the dog’s eyes, trying to dominate him as much as I can. I know some will say it’s silly but I try to be as much of an animal as I can. I try to use my entire body to communicate dominance.

A prey drive dog will be barking, lunging and trying to bite me. But as I stand there, not showing the slightest fear of him and making hard eye contact, he will weaken. His barking may change in pitch, an ear will flick, (the first sign of avoidance), he may occasionally glance over to where he last saw his handler, but mostly he will not be able to maintain eye contact. The eyes give the true picture of what he is feeling.

A dog that has little or no training but is full of fight drive may show up radically different, If he is sitting calmly but watching me intently, that’s OK. I have given him some body language that says that I may be a threat, but that’s all there is so far, a threat and I’m too far away from him to hurt him at this point. As long as he hasn’t shown any sign of weakness as mentioned above he is getting a passing grade. I have been within inches of some dogs that maintained good eye contact and still sat quietly even though I was towering over them.

The first couple of times it happened, it was unnerving. Imagine a scene from a James Bond or a Van Damme movie where the HUGE bad guy was towering over our hero, spit dripping from the corner of his mouth. In real life, of course, even the most proficient of martial artists would not allow the bad guy to approach this close. But this is only in the movies where there is no such thing as lag time. But when a dog does the Van Damme thing it is awesome.

However, a zero dog may also be sitting there watching me, but so disconnected that he has no response. There is a deadness in this dog’s eyes. Sort of the same look that one sees in the eyes of some mental patients. Empty, blank. Kind of hard to explain, but once you see it you’ll recognize it.

You can see the 'zero' look in some dogs eyes that only occurs under some circumstances. My step daughter had a Rottie cross that she got when he was about 12 months old and he would lapse into that state if you bathed him, and despite being a sweet natured and generally compliant dog, he'd put up a huge fight against being bathed before he went into this state. It's more than a 'faraway' look, because they also go very still with very subdued reactions or responses. Some dogs go into this state if they are separated from their favourite person.

I am careful not to give the dog any types of cues that remind him of training. I avoid moving rapidly to avoid bringing up prey drive. I do not present an arm as if I was wearing a sleeve. I do not present my arm as if holding a stick.

A fight drive dog may also be barking and lunging at me at this point. If he is not; if he is still sitting quietly, intent on me, I will pick up the stick and strike him sharply on his leg or shoulder. I have now gone from being merely a threat, to being an attacker. He should then bark and lunge at me, trying to bite me.

He will maintain hard eye contact throughout our contact.

I require that a dog have much fight drive, some prey drive, some defense drive and high play drive.

At this time I will make soothing noises, and approach the dog in a friendly manner. A defensive dog will remember how I acted before and will soon start to bark and lunge at me. I will approach, still being friendly and even may kneel down, just outside his reach to try to calm him down. I may use his name to help calm him down. A dog that still regards me as a threat, fails this test.

A dog that at first barks and lunges but can be calmed down may be either a prey or fight drive dog. Usually the prey dogs will bark at first and then can be calmed down.

A high fight drive dog may remember our last contact but will very quickly calm down, as I approach.

If they will let me, I will pet the dog. Most defensive dogs will not let me pet them because they remember me as a threat a few moments ago. Many prey drive dogs will let me pet them. Almost all fight drive dogs will calm down immediately and let me pet them. With some, it takes a few seconds.

The dog must be able to change gears very quickly. This dog is usually easy to train to out because he is able to shift from one mode to another easily.

By 'out' he means let go of the sleeve or whatever the dog has in it's mouth.

If a dog has passed the test so far, I will get a hard sleeve and take a bite while he is still staked out. I will make several passes by the dog using a minimum of prey drive moves and then give him a bite.

I will work the dog in defense, prey and fight drives and measure his response in each. I will look away, (only glancing out of the corner of my eye occasionally) pull away, fight vigorously and make lots of noise in prey. I will stand up straight, make hard eye contact and fight vigorously in fight. I will lean over the top of the dog and make hard eye contact in defense.

If I feel that a dog is operating primarily in prey drive, I will stop moving and avoid eye contact to see what he does. A prey drive dog will usually tone down his fight (he has killed the prey) and may even drop off the sleeve.

A dog that avoids eye contact is probably operating in defense drive and he fails this test.

I will then have the handler remove the dog from the fence and I will take an on-leash hit. I work the dog in all three drives and see how he stands up with a handler present.

I will then take an off leash bite from the dog and again see how he measures up in all three drives.

This is a very tough test and very few dogs pass it. But then very few dogs deserve to work the street.

I’m not advocating this test for everyone. I use it because it lets me select a dog that fits into my style of training.

Temperament and drive testing is often about finding out what a dog has in his/her heart or what he would most willingly do to know what they'd get the most enjoyment out of doing so that there can be good balance in their life. It also helps to figure out what reinforcements or training styles will best suit the dog because if you get that right you can increase pack drive in the dog with you as a trusted member of the pack. Some dogs come with a lot of pack drive, but others it takes a bit of work to establish.

 

[lilies]

She, a doctor, was a sort of vampire. I felt sick after they left, without energy. During their stance at home my dog, a Belgian Shepherd named Laika, stayed far away from them in a room. How strange I felt to see my dog behaving like that, she that was so communicative. But not this time. After that I knew why. Be aware of your dogs with other people! They are like mirrors. Fantastic beasts they are!

I think, this is exactly why the good alien party - offering peaceful Spiritual Teachings - [allegedly] meeting with President Eisenhower's group was strictly instructed to keep several meters of distance between them. They obviously didn't want to infect themselves with extreme human spiritual impurity. Then there must have been the fact of the draining of a highly energized party by a spiritually desiccated, energetically starving, effectively energy-vampire group of humans = President Eisenhower's party. This sober & highly advanced alien group, who could have taught most to humanity - We The People - was rejected of course by the Deep State in favor of the war-crazy, Satanic Lizzies: resulting in the current 'Hell on Earth'-situation.

 

[Jones]

Here's an interesting paper where they are using dogs in psychiatric wards as early detectors and to alert staff of aggressive outbursts from patients.

The interesting part about it is that they were also taking salivary cortisol measurements to test how much stress the dogs were experiencing. While salivary cortisol doesn't always give an accurate reading of the stress of the dog in and of itself without other behavioural measures (body language cues, underlying temperament, and how fast or slow each dog can metabolise the cortisol for example) being taken into account, it's the standard for measuring stress in such studies.

The salivary cortisol remained down in these dogs that were trained to alert on the early cues of aggressive outbursts. Despite the wiggle room in the accuracy of these readings, the outcome seems to support the knowledge I gleaned from professional trainers that basically says that a dog does not suffer too much from a negative experience if they can reliably predict a pattern, and have some agency in the experience - that is they can do something about it to mitigate negative outcomes.

This will explain why PTSD assistance dogs seem like some of the calmest dogs around. They can recognise the pattern and they know what to do.

So I guess the message here is that where a dog is suffering from any stress of it's owner, training it to do something to help the situation is protective of the dogs health.

Detection of Impending Aggressive Outbursts in Patients with Psychiatric Disorders: Violence Clues from Dogs - Scientific Reports

Aggression in psychiatric wards is a continuing matter of concern for both patients and medical staff. Here we have tested the hypothesis that the frequency of such incidents can be reduced with a new strategy of using trained alert dogs that warn of impending violent outbursts. Dogs were...

www.nature.com

 

[Ina]

@loreta
We were in Luanda, Angola for a while working and we took our two Dalmatians along. We also had the first puppies there and al in all it was a magical time although it was civil war in the rest of the country. Max the male Dalmatian, very much an alpha everything, including the best nanny to our daughters, had the final say in selecting the lady that would tidy up and stay with the house, girls and even feed him Tara and then the puppies, while we were at work. If he did not ‘like’ the person we would not object. It was actually funny, as we were telling all candidates from the beginning about the condition. So Max really liked Dominga. I must say she is an angel and she loved Max as well, so much so that when she organized to build Max’s contraption for flying him back to Johannesburg, when we were desperate that he’d miss the flight. Darling Max.