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Do you believe in dog? 2016

Showing posts with label affective states. Show all posts
Showing posts with label affective states. Show all posts

15 March 2013

The heat(map) is on... The colours of canine welfare.

The heat(map) is on... The colours of canine welfare.

Hey Julie,

 All those conferences sound completely AMAZING! I love that both dog urine and poo are totally appropriate topics for us to discuss in our conversations. All the other scientists are so jealous right now!

 I hope you've been well since getting home again. We've just been through the longest heatwave ever recorded in Melbourne over the past fortnight (9 days over 30oC / 90oF in a row) and today it's finally cooled off, hooray! I haven't posted you the TimTams I promised you on Twitter yet, for fear they'd melt before leaving Australia!

Speaking of heat, I made a heat map of canine welfare for one of my presentation slides at the recent RSPCA Australia Scientific Seminar. It was very colourful and looked like this (click to embiggen):

Cobb's colourful heat map, depicting perceived welfare levels of different dog types.
This is based on data I gathered in an online survey that was conducted as part of my PhD. I asked participants to rate the welfare of different dog types on a scale of 1-5 from very poor to very good. Consequently, this image is a representation of the perception of welfare of different types of dogs rather than an indication of actual welfare. But perceptions are important! 

 Proceedings from the day, including my full paper, should be available early next week on the RSPCA Australia website.  

 I'll make sure to put a note up on Facebook when it does.
We wish we had a quick and easy indicator of animal welfare, but we don't!
My presentation covered:

- the increasing expectation from the general public for transparency and best practice from industries using animals in work and sport;

- how we have traditionally measured animal welfare in science;

- I used working dogs as an example to talk through the life cycle stages (breeding/sourcing; raising/training; housing/healthcare and retirement/endpoints), exploring what we have learned through our recent research projects in regards to welfare, current practices and where there is room for improvement. 

 - I also spoke briefly about research currently under way that is using cognitive bias (often referred to as testing to see if animals are optimistic/pesimistic) as an indicator of canine emotions.
Yep, I actually used this image in my presentation (source)

 - I related the changing dynamic within animal welfare science from researching welfare outcomes (how do we understand and limit the bad stuff) toward studying affective states (how can we understand and promote the good stuff) to similar trends in other fields of research such as human positive psychology and education.


So now I'm home again and focussing my attention on writing up the results of the data analyses (from that online survey) into a paper. I want to submit the paper for publication in a peer-reviewed academic journal. As you know, this can be a lengthy process. 

I first have to draft the paper to a standard that I am happy with; then forward it to my PhD supervisors who may (probably will!) suggest changes and redraft. I then need to decide which journal to submit it to, and format the paper accordingly. There are lots of factors involved in selecting which journal to submit to, including impact factors.Then I will contact the journal and submit it for peer-review. 

While scientific papers DO follow a formula (Abstract / Intro / Methods / Results / Discussion / Conclusion),
they are not THIS formulaic! (source)
After that, the paper will be reviewed, probably by two other scientists working in the same field, who act as peer-reviewers and provide feedback to the journal's editorial team about the suitability of my paper for publication in that journal. They may give me comments suggesting minor or major changes to the paper, or even say they don't think it belongs in that journal. 

All up, it can easily take over a year from writing a paper to getting it published, sometimes closer to two years! Right now, I'm just focussing on step one -- get a draft completed!

Sam Gosling and I,
obviously caught unaware, deep in thought.
I had the chance to catch up with Sam Gosling (University of Texas at Austin) yesterday after hearing him present at the University of Melbourne. He gave a fantastic overview of the research his team have done looking at what our 'stuff' (from bedrooms, to office spaces to facebook profiles and websites) says about our personality. Fascinating! 

 After his presentation, fellow Anthrozoology Research Group member, Tammie and I chatted with him further about his group's work into non-human (specifically DOG) personality as well, which was great. One of his PhD students just had a meta-analysis of personality consistency in dogs published through PLoS-ONE (hurrah for open access).
I look forward to talking some more about meta-analysis with you soon. It's a very exciting way of exploring existing data!

How's everything going with you? Any hot tips for getting my paper drafted for publication? 

Mia

Further reading:
Fratkin J., Sinn D., Patall E. & Gosling S. (2013). Personality Consistency in Dogs: A Meta-Analysis., PloS One, 8 (1) DOI:

Gosling S.D., Augustine A.A., Vazire S., Holtzman N. & Gaddis S. (2011). Manifestations of Personality in Online Social Networks: Self-Reported Facebook-Related Behaviors and Observable Profile Information, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14 (9) 483-488. DOI:

Seligman M.E.P., Ernst R.M., Gillham J., Reivich K. & Linkins M. (2009). Positive education: positive psychology and classroom interventions, Oxford Review of Education, 35 (3) 293-311. DOI:
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1 March 2013

RSPCA Australia Scientific Seminar 2013: Recap

RSPCA Australia Scientific Seminar 2013: Recap

Hi Julie,

 what a week! Thanks for all that great information about The Sounds of Dogs, that was so interesting. I definitely recognise differences in the way my dogs bark. They have very different vocalisations for "strange person at the door", "someone familiar that I'm excited to see at the door" and "Oh my goodness, you just did something that we're not meant to do!" (that last one is ALWAYS Elke 'dobbing' on Caleb - she would have totally been the teacher's pet in a classroom environment!).

 The RSPCA Australia Scientific Seminar in Canberra was a fantastic day. So many interesting presentations on various topics all focussing on the day's theme:

When coping is not enough
- promoting positive welfare states in animals.

The keynote presentations from David Mellor and James Yeates were (as expected!) really thought-provoking in regard to the journey animal welfare science has taken over the past thirty years and the recent focus on animal affective states (we can probably just call them animals feelings/emotions). 

 It was fabulous to see so many friends and fellow scientists from all over Australia and hear about their latest news regarding zoo, companion, livestock, working and even pest animal research.

Some of the slides from my presentation about the welfare of working dogs.
As you know, we're moving from understanding how animals cope in welfare-poor environments and taking a huge leap to try and learn how we can help them flourish. Exciting times!

 Here are a few of the notes I wrote down while listening to talks on the day:
- Importance of teaching undergraduate students to assess the complexities of animal welfare issues objectively; use of e-simulation programs to enhance student understanding of animal welfare practices and economic/production components to decisions (Susan Hazel)

 - Animal welfare is about people as much as it is about animals

 - Australian dogs spend a lot of time in residential backyards monitoring for their owners' return from work. Most separation anxiety behavioural issues related to this management practice can be resolved by giving dogs access to indoors; preferably to owner's bed; but access to worn socks/underwear can also help if bed not available. (Robert Holmes)


- Re: texting during talks -- Blackberries are loud, iPhones are quiet (but bright!) 

 - Death is not an animal welfare issue (assuming done humanely) ??? If considered as deprivation of a life worth living, it might be. 

 - Future will move from species-specific provision of welfare to greater individualism. Challenge in developing codes of practice/welfare to provide for individual but still be functional at herd/group/facility level

 As you can see, there were some really huge ideas being thrown about the room!

 I'll be sure to let you know when the full papers come out in the proceedings from this excellent day. I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity by RSPCA Australia to speak among such a great line up. 

 There's so much to think about in the wake of all the amazing talks, I think I just need to go and think! 
If you'd like to get into the thick of my current mind-space, you can check out the Public Lecture 'How happy does a happy animal have to be (and how can we tell)? given by James Yeates (essentially the same as his keynote address) recorded in Melbourne, the day after the Canberra event: 


What's been on your mind lately?

 Mia

Further reading:

 Green T. & Mellor D. (2011). Extending ideas about animal welfare assessment to include ‘quality of life’ and related concepts, New Zealand Veterinary Journal, 59 (6) 263-271. DOI: 

 Hazel S.J., Signal T.D. & Taylor N. (2011). Can Teaching Veterinary and Animal-Science Students about Animal Welfare Affect Their Attitude toward Animals and Human-Related Empathy?, Journal of Veterinary Medical Education, 38 (1) 74-83. DOI:

Yeates J.W. (2010). Death is a Welfare Issue, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 23 (3) 229-241. DOI:

© Mia Cobb 2013
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Susan Hazel

31 January 2013

Dogs & Cats, Cats & Working Dogs, Working Dogs & Emotions

Dogs & Cats, Cats & Working Dogs, Working Dogs & Emotions

Hi Julie!

What a busy week I’ve found myself having! 

Very productive indeed, with a lot of this:

and some more of that:

 Fuelled by a ton of this:

But I did take time to notice that your cat Josh broke something new.  Oh Josh! 

Thanks for telling me about your ISHAR presentation about dogs and cats in the home.  I can definitely relate to the importance of early socialisation = best chance at harmony. Take my dog Elke, for example.

As a pup, she met and spent time around mature cat Bobby (who opted to ignore her for the most part).
Elke grew up around cats and kittens.
Then she helped me raise a bunch of Shelter foster kittens until they were old enough to be adopted.

By the time Tonto came to live with us as permanent family member, she was an old hand in living around cats. And when Caleb later joined us as a young adult dog, Tonto was pretty relaxed around dogs. He tended to be confident in interactions; not running away (importantly, not triggering any chase responses from our new dog).
Elke ably demonstrating in top image that a cat is not worth waking up for.
Gidget and some enthusiastic GDs
This was also true when we brought a new kennel cat into the Training Kennel and Vet Clinic facility I managed at Guide Dogs Victoria (GDV). We selected a kitten from the Shelter who was outgoing and confident around people and dogs. We then set her up in the main foyer of our facility to have a slow and positive introduction to the visiting puppies and dogs that we could control to maximise the positives for all the animals. 

Gidget now plays an important role at GDV helping to desensitise the dogs to cats by reducing their level of interest and distraction. If their key learning experiences about cats with Gidget are 'boring', they associate future cats with 'boring' and will be less likely to want to chase them. 


Important when you are a working Guide Dog. Or a Police Dog. Or any number of other types of working dogs. Working Dog kennel cats are really common!
(source)

GDV Puppy Class (source)
Gidget also attends the puppy socialisation classes, wearing her harness and lead so puppies can be encouraged at an early age to stay calm around cats. A resident kennel cat also means that a friendly cat is readily available to assess a dog’s level of cat distraction or participate in training sessions to improve Guide Dog-appropriate responses to the presence of a cat.  


Or help out with photo shoots around Valentine's Day. You know how it goes!

(source) Gidget loves photo shoots. Even if they aren't (supposed to be) about her!
Gidget would spend her downtime in my office, asleep next to my computer monitor. We were good workmates and I miss her jaunty greetings and blissed out purrs! 
My regular desktop view when working at GDV
One thing about not sharing an office with Gidget any more is that it’s giving me more time to analyse all my PhD data about working dogs in kennel facilities. 

 I’ve been busy number-crunching this week ahead of the RSPCA Australia Scientific Seminar later this month. My presentation is titled ‘Working Like a Dog – Affectively’. I’ll be talking about how affective states (a.k.a emotions) relate to working dogs, their welfare and performance. What is the affective experience for a working dog?  How can we tell? What things should we be considering to give working dogs a ‘life worth living’ (or better!) while they are working to help us humans?
RSPCA Scientific Seminar 2013
Professor David Mellor will be chairing the seminar and giving a presentation titled ‘Coping, cognition and quality of life improvement’ which I’m looking forward to hearing. Mellor’s based in New Zealand and I’ve enjoyed listening to him at other conferences. I am very interested in the work he’s been involved with in translating animal welfare science into practical animal welfare standards and outcomes in collaboration with the NZ government. It’s going to be a fun day!

Speaking of fun – aren’t you at Science Online’s 2013 event this week? I’m following #scio13 on Twitter and pretending I’m there too!

Mia

Further reading:

Mellor D.J. & Bayvel A.C.D. (2008). New Zealand's inclusive science-based system for setting animal welfare standards, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 113 (4) 313-329. DOI:

Mellor D. (2012). Animal emotions, behaviour and the promotion of positive welfare states, New Zealand Veterinary Journal, 60 (1) 1-8. DOI:

© Mia Cobb 2012
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21 January 2013

When coping is not enough

When coping is not enough


Hi Julie,

Snapshot from Project: Play with your Dog's 'Wall of Contributors'
I’m so pleased to hear that Project: Play with Your Dog is going well. I’ve enjoyed watching the wall of contributors grow and it’s awesome that The Bark featured the research project – but then, why wouldn't they? It’s a fantastic project!

As you mentioned, I’ve been keeping busy getting organised for my presentation at next month’s RSPCA Australia Scientific Seminar. This event is held annually and brings together a wide range of speakers to share the latest knowledge relating to animal welfare research and practices with other academics, industry representatives and anyone else who is interested in coming along to listen. 

The day features a range of talks based around one central theme. These themes (such as ‘How much space does an elephant need? The impact of confinement on animal welfare’) are notoriously designed to cover a range of opinions and promote debate. I've certainly witnessed many spirited discussions between speakers and audience members in previous years.

This year’s theme is:

‘When coping is not enough - Promoting positive welfare states in animals’.
(source)
I’m excited about the day and looking forward to hearing the keynote presentation by Dr James Yeates from RSPCA UK. Yeates has published discussion papers in the scientific literature surrounding the recent introduction of the term ‘a life worth living’ in reports arising from farm animal welfare discussions and policy. 

Dr James Yeates (source)

As we’ve talked about previously, animal welfare can be tricky to measure and defining what makes for ‘good’ animal welfare, or a life worth living, in quantitative terms that can be applied in real-world policy and industry applications, is no easy task for scientists.


It will be great to listen to James speak about this area that really applies to how we consider all animals. He’s also making a couple of stops around Australia’s East coast to give a free public lecture titled How happy does an animal have to be (and how can we tell)? to others who are interested and unable to make it to Canberra.

The other person to speak to the day’s theme is Professor David Mellor who is based in New Zealand. I have always enjoyed listening to him speak at previous conferences.

I will tell you more about Mellor's research and what I’ll be speaking about at the Scientific Seminar next time. 

 For now, I hope you’ll forgive me, but I have to go and play with my dogs,
FOR SCIENCE!

Mia

 p.s. Tell Josh I said G'day!

 Further reading:

Yeates J. (2011). Is 'a life worth living' a concept worth having?, Animal Welfare, 20 (3) 397-406. Link: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/ufaw/aw/2011/00000020/00000003/art00009

 Yeates J. (2012). Quality Time: Temporal and Other Aspects of Ethical Principles Based on a “Life Worth Living”, Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, 25 (4) 607-624. DOI:

© Mia Cobb 2012


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when coping is not enough

15 January 2013

The feeling of play

The feeling of play

(Source)
Hi there Mia,

 2013 is looking pretty good! I loved your recent post on motor, sensory and structural aspects of laterality in dogs. This is the type of research that gets me going. Who would think any information could come from this, and then... Tada!!!
Dogs with clockwise chest whorls were more likely 'right-pawed'

Feels like play
Project: Play with Your Dog is going well! We’re getting loads of submissions from people across the globe, and we'll be collecting submissions through Spring 2013. It’s exciting that people are opening up and sharing little tidbits into how they interact with their dogs. 

Bark magazine blogger, JoAnna Lou recently gave the study a shout out, and that has definitely resulted in the submission of more videos!


(Source)
One of the best parts of watching the videos is seeing all the different ways that dogs and people enjoy one another. Play is such a unique exchange, and from one dyad to the next, it can look so different. One reason that play is so varied is that play pulls from so many different cognitive arenas like memory, attention, synchronized behavior and timing. Play between dogs and people can sometimes look so fluid that it’s almost like watching water ballet (not that I watch much water ballet). Some play incorporates routines like tug, chase or fetch, and other players create their own rituals and activities.

The feeling of anticipation
The other thing I love about play is the overarching feelings of excitement, joy and anticipation -- with anticipation probably being my favorite. Play with my cat Josh is mostly about anticipation (And as you know, Josh is behind the world famous Tumblr page, http://thingsmycatbroke.tumblr.com. The page hasn’t been updated in a month, which is probably a good thing). 

(Source)
At various times in the day, Josh will dash into the bedroom, bound onto the bed, and assume his crouching pose that indicates -- It’s play time! Come and get me! When I jump up, he takes off running down the hall. I get a kick out of it, and based on his behavior, I assume he gets a kick out of it too.

In fact, play is often used as an indicator of “positive welfare.” How do we know whether an animal -- or a group of animals -- is doing well, feeling good, and generally happy? How do we explore their welfare? If animals have the time, energy and overall fitness to play, it's often assumed their basic biological functions and physiological needs are met. So a playing animal could indicate that an animal is doing well physiologically and emotionally.

Mia, you’re preparing to speak on the topic of emotional states and working dogs at a really interesting conference organized by RSPCA Australia: When coping is not enough - Promoting positive welfare states in animals. Do working dogs get time to play? What else will you be talking about? Tell tell!

Happy 2013! Let play (and happiness) reign!

 Julie

Reference
Boissy A., Manteuffel G., Jensen M.B., Moe R.O., Spruijt B., Keeling L.J., Winckler C., Forkman B., Dimitrov I. & Langbein J. & (2007). Assessment of positive emotions in animals to improve their welfare, Physiology & Behavior, 92 (3) 375-397. DOI:

© Julie Hecht 2013
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thingsmycatbroke

24 September 2012

The science of carrots and sticks

The science of carrots and sticks

This is not Kate. (source)

Hi Julie,

Today I want to tell you all about the great time I had last week. But first, you have to know about my lovely friend, Kate. We originally met through our research group at Monash University. We’re colleagues who have completing our PhD’s (both aiming to complete SOON) in common, but we also share a background in Zoology and the fact we have been juggling our research with our work for the past few years. Kindred spirits!

This is Kate!
Kate works primarily as an animal behaviourist (you can check out her business website, or follow her on facebook), but she is also a media personality, experienced freelance writer and delivers professional and public training workshops. The Melbourne Aquarium asked Kate to come and present to their staff about the ‘Science of Animal Behaviour and Training’ and Kate asked me to come along to help out.

Hello penguins!
I said yes.

Kate’s presentations comprised of theoretical (learning), observational (watching) and practical (doing) exercises. It is always so good to see ongoing professional development in any workplace and the aquarium staff were really engaged and enthusiastic participants. I took lots of fun video footage that you would have seen on our facebook page.

Kate’s a great presenter and someone who believes in the fact we (as people) never stop learning. She lives this belief and engages in lots of ongoing professional training opportunities in furthering her understanding of animal behaviour and how we can influence it. For example, she just got back from learning with Ken Ramirez at Shedd Aquarium and over the past few years has also been to Natural Encounters Inc and done chicken camp with Terry Ryan.

So what does this have to do with dogs? So much!

Animal training specialists understand about animal behaviour (taking into account the individual animal’s history and the effect of the current environment) and the science of learning theory. They use this knowledge to help shape animal behaviour to improve things like animal welfare, enrichment goals and human safety.
Divers do group fish feeds in the large aquarium in front of the public. There are big sharks and stingrays in there.
(source)
What’s the most exciting thing about learning from people who train marine mammals, exotic parrots and chickens? They are able to do this using positive reinforcement training methods! Without force. Because good luck trying to train a 1200kg (that’s 2500lb) walrus or 1500kg beluga whale (that’s closer to 3000lb) using aversive techniques. They don’t do prong collars or choke chains that size.


One of the key findings in the Australian Working Dog Survey in 2009 was that the use of aversive training techniques (such as using electric shock collars and correction methods rather than positive reinforcement) was correlated with lack of formal certified education in dog training. If we can help spread information about the practical applications of scientifically established learning theory, we can help to improve training success, the human-animal relationship and animal welfare outcomes – what’s not to like?
 
If you’d like to find out more, check out the links of the places Kate has done her training courses. I also really like this book by McGreevy and Boakes called ‘Carrots and Sticks: Principles of Animal Training’. It contains two parts, the first is about the general principles of learning theory (including positive reinforcement, fear, punishment and avoidance training and a chapter about animal intelligence) and the second is a whole bundle of case studies (focussing on companion and performance animals, exotic animals and working animals). It’s easy to read, gives you plenty to think about and the use of real life case studies helps to illustrate how the theory can be applied in so many different contexts.

 I saw you got some interesting feedback when you asked the peanut gallery what it is about their dogs' looks that prompt them to attribute personality traits. The M.C. commenter wasn't me (just in case you though maybe it was) I do have a big dog though, and he does get called a gentle giant ALL the time. I tend to always fall in love with floppy eared dogs. 

 Why is that?!
Please tell me MORE!

 Mia


 Further reading:

McGreevy, PD & Boakes, RA. Carrots and Sticks: Principles of Animal Training. Darlington Press, Sydney, 2011.

 Frear, L. (2009). Carrots and Sticks: Principles of Animal Training. Paul McGreevy and Robert Boakes., Integrative and Comparative Biology, 49 (4) 471. DOI: 10.1093/icb/icp016

Haverbeke, A., Laporte, B., Depiereux, E., Giffroy, J.M. & Diederich, C. (2008). Training methods of military dog handlers and their effects on the team's performances, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 113 (1-3) 122. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2007.11.010

© Mia Cobb 2012
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