Publikationsdatenbank

Characterisation of stress in dogs overcoming an obstacle on the basis of chronobiological regulatory diagnostics using a 3D acceleration measurement (2007)

Art

Vortrag

Autoren

Rudolph, CH

Kuhne, F

Struwe, R

Balzer, HU

Kongress

6fu International Zoo and Wildlife Research Conference on Behaviour, Physiology and Genetics

Berlin, 07. – 10.10.2007

Quelle

6fu International Zoo and Wildlife Research Conference on Behaviour, Physiology and Genetics

Berlin: Leibnitz Institut for Zoo and Wildlife Research, 2007 — S. 187

Sprache

Englisch

Kontakt

Institut für Tierschutz, Tierverhalten und Versuchstierkunde

Königsweg 67
14163 Berlin
+49 30 838 61146
tierschutz@vetmed.fu-berlin.de

Abstract / Zusammenfassung

The subject of this analysis is body movement regulation, the periodicity of which is affected by psychobiological processes. Chronobiological regulatory diagnostics can show up slight and subjectively indiscernible changes in the periodic frequency pattern of activity over time, and statements can be made about the current regula- tion state of an organism. In this paper, the results of a study of twelve German shepherd dogs overcoming an obstacle course are considered. Olle of the obstacles was a steel grid structure which could be mounted by aseries of steps and de- scended by a sloping plane. Measurements were made with a storage telemetry device. It was an non-invasive three-dimensional acceleration measurement system (W AS@) which, attached to the torso of the dogs, records acceleration data für the three axes of space accurate to a second in the range of:i: 2 g linear or :i: 4 g with damping. The behaviour data, acquired with special software, are compared with the changing state of heart rate, skin potential and muscle activity as weIl as with the data obtained by W AS@. The time series of physiological and acceleration data are biorhythmetrically analyzed (*). From the variation of cycles, statements about the rhythm of activation and deactivation and about the quality of regulation of the body are possible. Clear differences become apparent in the dogs behaviour in overcoming the obstacle. There are noticeable correlations between the results of
the measured acceleration and the behaviour of the dogs at the obstacle. High cor- ,
relations are also observable between the results of three-dimensional acceleration i and EMG, as weIl as between the results ofEMG and sympathetic activity. There-
fore, the results of the acceleration measurements can reveal something about the !
state of stress of the animals. The results of the chronobiological regulation diag- i nostics, more precisely the analysis of period length as weIl as of the quality and quantity of regulation of the acceleration data, are currently a reasonable addition to the rating of stress states with classical ethological methods. In the context of
, conventional behaviour monitoring, this approach offers the advantage that nor-
mally imperceptible variations of behaviour are detectable. However, the synchro- nisation of all these parameters and the simultaneous identification of the stimuli is relatively labour and technology intensive.