Effects of Anxiety on Canine Movement in Dog-Robot Interactions

Anna Zamansky, Stephane Bleuer-Elsner, Sylvia Masson, Shir Amir, Ofer Magen, Dirk van der Linden

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Canine behavioral disorders, such as various forms of fear and anxiety, are a major threat for the well-being of dogs and their owners. They are also the main cause for dog abandonment and relinquishment to shelters. Timely diagnosis and treatment of such problems is a complex task, requiring extensive behavioral expertise. Accurate classification of pathological behavior requires information on the dog's reactions to environmental stimuli. Such information is typically self-reported by the animal's owner, posing a threat to its accuracy and correctness. Simple robots have been used as controllable stimulifor evoking particular canine behaviors, leading to the increasing interest in dog-robot interactions (DRIs). We explore the use of DRIs as a tool for the assessment of canine behavioral disorders. More concretely, we ask in what ways disorders such as anxiety may be reflected in the way dogs interact with a robot. To this end, we performed an exploratory study, recording DRIs for a group of 20 dogs, consisting of 10 dogs diagnosed by a behavioral expert veterinarian with deprivation syndrome, a form of phobia/anxiety caused by inadequate development conditions, and 10 healthy control dogs. Pathological dogs moved significantly less than the control group during these interactions.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)380-387
Number of pages8
JournalAnimal Behavior and Cognition
Volume5
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2018
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • dog-robot interaction
  • DRI
  • veterinary behavior
  • canine anxiety

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