Category Archives: research

The SmartPill: helping to understand canine bloat

Posted on October 15, 2013 | Leave a comment

Gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV), or bloat, is one of the leading causes of death in dogs. Second only to cancer in some breeds, it’s the number one killer of Great Danes. Despite its prevalence, the cause of bloat is unknown.

The American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation has given a research grant to Laura Nelson, assistant professor at Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine to change that.

When a dog gets bloat, gas fills the dog’s stomach, the stomach twists completely around, the gas has no way to escape, and blood and air supply to the stomach are cut off. As the stomach swells, it presses against the abdominal wall and pushes against large blood vessels. Shock is usually the cause of death. The whole progression can happen in a matter of minutes or hours, and surgery is required to save the dog’s life.

It’s generally believed that genetics as well as environmental factors play a role in which dog develops bloat. “We want to know why some dogs get bloat while others don’t,” says Nelson.

Nelson’s team is investigating the relationship of contractions responsible for the digestion of food (motility) with increased GDV risk, and hopes to define the biochemical and genetic alterations that may be associated with hypomotility—abnormally weak contractions. A new diagnostic tool, SmartPill®, makes possible noninvasive assessment of motility. The SmartPill® is an ingestible capsule with an instrument inside that measures acidity and pressure. The team will measure the time it takes the capsule to pass through the dog’s system and the pressure spikes along the way.

In the short term, the research findings may provide clinicians with data that would allow them to make informed decisions about when to use preventative medications or conduct targeted prophylactic surgery—gastropexy—in at-risk dogs. This procedure surgically attaches the stomach to the abdominal wall in order to prevent twisting. It is an effective procedure that is well tolerated, but, Nelson notes, it is an invasive procedure that may not be necessary in some dogs. There currently is not a good way to determine who to recommend it for.

“With bloat, it happens and you treat it. But it would be so much more satisfying if we really understood why some dogs get bloat, and then be able to make more informed treatment decisions and possibly prevent the disease altogether,” says Nelson.

Source: Michigan State University media statement

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Posted in dog care, research

Tagged American Kennel Club, bloat, Canine Health Foundation, College of Veterinary Medicine, gastropexy, great dane, Laura Nelson, Michigan State University, motility, SmartPill

Dwarfism in dogs

Posted on September 29, 2013 | 1 comment

Researchers at the University of Helsinki and Folkhälsan Research Center led by Professor Hannes Lohi have found a gene mutation that causes chondrodysplasia (dwarfism) in the Norwegian Elkhound and the Karelian Bear Dog. They have published their results in the journal PLoS One.

A dwarf Norwegian Elkhound, photo by Saija Nieminen

When affected by the condition, dogs have considerably shorter limbs than normal dogs. Other skeletal abnormalities may follow which include bowed forearms, abnormal digits (toes), and malformed femoral heads.

The mutation affects the collagen receptors during bone growth.

“Both breeds have now benefited from a genetic test that is available for dog owners”, says Professor Lohi. There is hope that the mutation can be eradicated from the breeding population through use of the test.

Source: University of Helsinki press statement

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Posted in dog breeds, research

Tagged chondrodysplasia, dwarf, dwarfism, gene mutation, genetic test, Karelian Bear Dog, Norwegian Elkhound, PLoS ONE, skeletal abnormalities, University of Helsinki

A dog-designed robot?

Posted on September 16, 2013 | Leave a comment

A very different type of research article has been published in the journal Animal Cognition. This study found that dogs react sociably to robots that behave socially towards them, even if the devices look nothing like a human.

What? Yes – that’s right. A research team led by Gabriella Lakatos of the Hungarian Academy of Science and Eötvös Loránd University tested the reactions of 41 dogs with a PeopleBot robot. The robot had two arms and four-fingered hands, resembling a piece of gym equipment with a white gloved hand attached to it.

One set of dogs in the ‘asocial group’ first observed an interaction between two humans (the owner and the human experimenter) and then observed an ‘asocial’ interaction between the owner and the robot. Another set of dogs watched an interaction between the owner and the human experimenter followed by observing a ‘social’ interaction between the owner and the robot.

A dog and the PeopleBot robot

These interactions were followed by sessions in which either the human experimenter or the robot pointed out the location of hidden food.

The dogs spent more time near the robot or gazing at its head when the PeopleBot behaved socially.

“Roboticists who design interactive robots should look into the sociality and behavior of their designs, even if they do not embody human-like characteristics,” Lakatos advises.

Source: Springer media release

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Tagged Animal Cognition, cognition, design, human interaction, PeopleBot, robot, science

Canine remote control?

Posted on September 5, 2013 | Leave a comment

Just how far will technology take us in interacting with dogs?

Jeff Miller and David Bevly of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, have devised a system to issue cues by remote control. They’ve published their results in an issue of the International Journal of Modelling, Identification and Control which is due out soon.

Their system provides guidance to the dog using an embedded command module with vibration and tone generation capabilities. Tests in a structured and non-structured environment show obedience accuracy up to almost 98%.

The system is designed with serious uses in mind – it’s not being designed for the lazy dog owner who doesn’t want to spend time or interact with their dog.

The team has demonstrated that a search & rescue or other working dog can be trained to respond “virtually flawlessly” to remote control tones and vibrations as if they were immediate commands from a human handler.

A detector dog in action

Directing detection dogs in areas where human handlers cannot access is one such serious application of the technology.

Source: EurekAlert! press release

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Posted in research, special dogs and awards

Tagged Alabama, Auburn University, detection dogs, detector dogs, remote control

Another study about dogs (yawn)

Posted on August 11, 2013 | Leave a comment

It’s official (again) – dogs yawn more often in response to their owners than to other people.

Last year, researchers in Sweden published research on contagious yawning in dogs. This year, researchers at the University of Tokyo have published additional research in the open journal PLoS One.

Their research focuses on a ‘familiarity bias’ in contagious yawning by dogs.

Pet dogs in the study watched their owner or a stranger yawn. They responded more in response to their owners than to the strangers.

The researchers conclude that the dogs have an emotional connection to their owners, which is exhibited through empathy with the yawning movements.

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Tagged animals, behaviour, contagious yawning, emotional ties, familiarity bias, PLoS ONE, research, response, yawning

Training dogs for bomb detection

Posted on August 2, 2013 | 2 comments

Unfortunately, we live in a world where people still build bombs to kill and maim. Dogs have traditionally been trained to detect explosive devices by learning to detect specific odours and then to signal their handler.

A detection dog in action

The process of training a bomb detection dog is slow because the dog is trained to identify each scent individually. In countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, homemade devices are made using mixtures of explosives.

With a grant from the Office of Naval Research, researchers at the University of Lincoln (UK) will investigate whether explosive detection dogs are capable of learning by categorisation, a cognitive process that is thought to play a major role in the way humans and animals naturally process new information.

The study will explore whether dogs can be trained to recognise the significance of a group of odours, rather than having to learn each scent individually.

Researcher Helen Zulch says, “In this study we will be testing whether a dog can be taught a general rule for a group of odours and then apply that knowledge to a new situation, involving scents it has never encountered. We know dogs can categorise visual stimuli, so the aim of this study is to find out whether dogs are able to categorise odours in a similar manner.”

If successful, the research will underpin new training approaches that will accelerate the process of training detector dogs.

Source: University of Lincoln media release

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Tagged Afghanistan, bomb detection, cognition, detection dogs, Iraq, training, University of Lincoln

The ancestral roots of your dog

Posted on July 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

A genetic study by Peter Savolainen, a researcher in evolutionary genetics at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, has found that dog breeds from North and South America have Asian ancestry.

The Chihuahua definitely has Mexican heritage

The native breeds have 30 percent or less modern replacement by European dogs. It had been thought, prior to this study, that when Europeans settled in the American continent their dog breeds successively replaced the genetics of the native breeds.

Savolainen’s research group, in cooperation with colleagues in Portugal, compared mitochondrial DNA from Asian and European dogs, ancient American archaeological samples, and American dog breeds, including Chihuahuas, Peruvian hairless dogs and Arctic sled dogs.

They traced the American dogs’ ancestry back to East Asian and Siberian dogs, and also found direct relations between ancient American dogs and modern breeds.

The research confirmed conclusively that the modern day Chihuahua has Mexican roots. The breed shares a DNA type uniquely with Mexican pre-Columbian samples.

The team also analysed stray dogs, confirming them generally to be runaway European dogs; but in Mexico and Bolivia they identified populations with high proportions of indigenous ancestry.

Source: AlphaGalileo Foundation news release

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Posted in dog breeds, research

Tagged american dogs, Asian, asian ancestry, Chihuahua, DNA, evolution, genetics, North American, peruvian hairless dogs, science, Siberian Husky, sled dogs

Your dog understands ‘Just Do It’

Posted on July 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

New research helps to confirm the cognitive abilities of our dogs.

Claudia Fugazza and Adám Miklósi, from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary have shown that dogs can learn, retain and replay actions taught by humans after a short delay. Because the dogs were able to undertake the actions after a delay (during which they were purposely distracted), the research proves that dogs have an ability to ‘encode’ and ‘recall.’

photo courtesy of Springer Select

The study involved eight adult pet dogs who were trained by their owners with the ‘Do as I do’ method and then made to wait for short intervals (5-30 seconds) before they were allowed to copy the observed human action, for example walk around a bucket or ring a bell.

The researchers observed whether the dogs were able to imitate human actions after delays ranging from 40 seconds to 10 minutes, during which time the dogs were distracted by being encouraged to take part in other activities. The researchers were looking for evidence of the dogs’ ability to encode and recall the demonstrated action after an interval.

The tests show that dogs are able to reproduce familiar actions and novel actions after different delays ̶ familiar actions after intervals as long as ten minutes; novel tasks after a delay of one minute. This ability was seen in different conditions, even if they were distracted by different activities during the interval.

Because dogs were able to reproduce the novel actions after a delay and without earlier practice, the researchers believe that dogs have a specific type of long-term memory capability – called ‘declarative memory.’ These are memories involving facts or knowledge which can be consciously recalled.

This study is published in the journal Animal Cognition.

Source: Springer Select media statement

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Tagged Animal Cognition, cognition, cognitive ability, research

Lymphomas in humans and dogs have similarities

Posted on July 14, 2013 | Leave a comment

A team of scientists from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Duke University have conducted one of the first studies to directly compare canine and human B-cell lymphoma by examining molecular similarities and differences between the two species.

B-cell lymphomas are very common in both humans and dogs.

“Pet dogs get cancer the same way humans do: at similar rates, and for unknown reasons. Like humans, dogs’ tumors are spontaneously occurring, rather than genetically created as they are in mice, so canine tumors may more accurately mimic the situation in human cancer patients. Dogs are good models to study, because it will also be possible to study shared risk factors, in the environment, for example, that might predispose both humans and dogs to get lymphoma. Our knowledge helps dogs and humans with lymphoma.” says Kristy Richards, MD, PhD, and co-author of the research which has been published in the journal Cancer Research.

“Veterinarians treating dogs for lymphoma can offer clinical trials to their owners. Clinical trials in dogs are similar to those done in humans, with safety protections in place to minimize harm.”

Molecular analyses of canine and human tumors were completed at NCSU and at UNC Lineberger. The team used gene expression profiling and found that canine B-cell lymphoma expression profiles were similar in many ways to human B-cell lymphoma, thus paving the way for future studies, including therapeutic clinical trials in dogs and humans.

Source: UNC School of Medicine media statement

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Tagged cancer, Duke University, lymphoma, North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine

Blessed bonds between dogs and humans

Posted on June 26, 2013 | Leave a comment

This is going to come as no surprise to many of you – but research has confirmed that the owner-dog bond is similar to that of parent-child.Scientists at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna (known as Vetmeduni Vienna) have studied the phenomenon known as the ‘secure base effect’ between dogs and their owners.

Human infants use their caregivers as a secure base when it comes to interacting with the environment and the researchers wanted to know if dogs found the same security with their owners.

The research team, led by Lisa Horn, examined the dogs’ reactions under three different conditions: “absent owner”, “silent owner” and “encouraging owner”. The dogs could earn a food reward by manipulating interactive dog toys.

The dogs were much less keen on working for food when their caregivers were not there than when they were. Whether an owner additionally encouraged the dog during the task or remained silent, had little influence on the dog’s level of motivation.

In a follow-up experiment, the research team replaced the owner with an unfamiliar person. The scientists observed that dogs hardly interacted with the strangers and were not much more interested in trying to get the food reward than when the stranger was not there. The dogs were much more motivated only when their owner was present. The researchers concluded that the owner’s presence is important for the animal to behave in a confident manner.

Horn said, “One of the things that really surprised us is that adult dogs behave towards their caregivers like human children do.”

Am I surprised? Not really. (This blog ain’t named Doggy Mom for nothing!)

You can read the journal article “The Importance of the Secure Base Effect for Domestic Dogs – Evidence from a Manipulative Problem-Solving Task” online here.