Puppy Behavior When Left Alone
Diane Franka, , , Michela Minerob, Simona Cannasb and Clara Palestrinib
aUniversité de Montréal, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Centre Hospitalier
Universitaire Vétérinaire, C.P. 5000, Saint-Hyacinthe, Que., Canada J2S 7C6
bIstituto di Zootecnica, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Milano,
Via Celoria 10, 20133 Milano, Italy
Accepted 8 May 2006. Available online 27 June 2006.
Abstract
The aim of this exploratory pilot study was to investigate which behaviours puppies
exhibited when left home alone within the initial weeks (0–11 weeks) following adoption,
as well as describing variability and temporal distribution of these behaviours. Eighteen
puppies (9 aged less and 9 aged more than 90 days) were filmed home alone for 90 min
after the owner left. Owners were asked to complete a brief questionnaire including
information on the puppy's characteristics and history as well as on the physical and social
environment of the dog. Analysis of behaviours on tape showed that puppies did not
behave homogeneously but rather separated into three distinct groups. Puppies were
clustered based on behaviours such as (1) playing and exploring or (2) exhibiting passive
behaviours or (3) presenting lip licking, yawning, scratching, orienting to the environment
and vocalising. Passive behaviour increased significantly over time (p < 0.001) and was
significantly lower during the first 15 min with respect to the other observation periods (p
< 0.05). Orientation to the environment tended to decrease (p = 0.08). Vocalisation (p <
0.05) and play behaviour (p < 0.01) both decreased significantly over time.
Keywords: Puppy; Dogs; Behaviour; Separation anxiety
Article Outline
1. Introduction
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Subjects
2.2. Data collection
2.3. Data analysis
2.3.1. Questionnaire
2.3.2. Videotapes
2.3.3. Statistical analysis
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusion
Acknowledgements
References
1. Introduction
Anxiety-related disorders and separation anxiety are among the most common
behavioural problems in domestic dogs (Overall et al., 2001). Separation anxiety is
diagnosed in 20–40% of dogs referred to animal behaviour practices in North America
(Voith and Borchelt, 1996 and Simpson, 2000). Problems that occur when the owner is
absent represent one of the principal causes for the breakdown of the human–companion
animal bond and lead to surrender of numerous dogs to shelters (Van der Borg et al., 1991
and Miller et al., 1996). In the broadest definition of separation anxiety, the condition is
described as problematic behaviour motivated by anxiety that occurs exclusively in the
owner's absence or virtual absence (Borchelt and Voith, 1982, Overall, 1997 and
Flanningan and Dodman, 2001). The most common complaints are destructive behaviour
directed at the home, self inflicted-trauma, inappropriate elimination, and excessive
vocalisation (whining, barking, or howling) only in the owner's absence (King et al., 2000
and Simpson, 2000).
Most studies to date on early behavioural development in dogs have been based on
various laboratory tests (see Scott and Fuller, 1965) and unfortunately very little
information is currently available on puppies observed in the human social environment
(Lund and Vestergaard, 1998). This information could be quite helpful to gain a more
comprehensive understanding of developmental aspects of social behaviour as well as
social influences on behavioural phenotype (Lund and Vestergaard, 1998). To our
knowledge, no detailed study has been published that included filmed observations of the
behaviour of puppies home alone. The aim of this exploratory pilot study was to
investigate which behaviours puppies exhibited when left home alone within the initial
weeks (0–11 weeks) following adoption, as well as describing variability and temporal
distribution of these behaviours.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Subjects
Eighteen puppies (10 intact males, 1 neutered male and 7 intact females) ranging in ages
from 55 to 161 days (mean = 84.2 days; median = 81 days; S.D. = 29.06) were included. All
dogs were purebreds. Breeds represented included three Labradors, two Bernese
Mountain Dogs, two Border Collies, and one of each of the following breeds:
Newfoundland, German Short Hair Pointer, Cocker, Siberian Husky, Schnauzer, Great
Pyrenees, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Chihuahua, German Shepherd, Great Dane, and Golden
Retriever. Puppies were recruited mostly through direct contact with veterinarians in
private practice. A fax advertisement summarised inclusion and exclusion criteria for
participating veterinary hospitals.
One puppy was born at the owner's home, one was adopted from another person, one was
acquired from the local animal shelter, three were purchased from a pet store, and the
remaining dogs were adopted directly from breeders. Age of puppies at adoption ranged
from birth to 105 days (mean = 58.9 days) and duration of ownership varied from 2 to 78
days (mean = 24.7 days).
Videotaping sessions were carried out under conditions normally adopted by the owners:
15 puppies were kept in a cage, 1 was allowed to run freely in the apartment, 1 did not have
access to bedrooms, and 1 was locked up in the living room.
2.2. Data collection
The owners were asked to fill out a brief questionnaire including information on the
puppy's characteristics and history as well as on the physical and social environment of
the dog. Questions touched on home environment, management, age (current, age at
acquisition and at weaning), sex, reproductive status (entire or neutered/spayed), breed,
number of adults and children (children older than 18 years were considered adults) in the
household, source of puppy (breeder, pet store, shelter, rescue, family, friends or stray),
number of dogs and cats in the household, access to outdoors, amount of exercise, as well
as the dog's daily and weekend routine.
A video camera was installed in the room where the puppy usually stayed during owner
absence. If the puppy was allowed free roam, the camera was installed where the dog was
believed to spend most of its time. The owners were asked to start the camera immediately
prior to their departure from home, without changing their regular daily routine. The dogs
were filmed home alone for 90 min.
2.3. Data analysis
2.3.1. Questionnaire
Answers to the questionnaire were scored and absolute and relative frequencies were
calculated.
2.3.2. Videotapes
The behaviour of each puppy was video-recorded and the videotape sessions were
analysed by two trained observers. Fourteen categories covering all recorded behaviours
were established (Table 1). A focal animal continuous recording method (Martin and
Bateson, 1993) was used to describe the puppy's activity. Behaviours were recorded in
terms of duration of occurrence or frequency. Behaviours recorded as states (exploration,
locomotion, passive behaviour, orientation to environment, scratching, oral behaviour,
vocalisation, play, grooming, panting) were reported as percentage of total observation
time, and events (licking lips, yawning, elimination) were reported in terms of absolute
frequency of occurrence.
Table 1.
Behavioural categories and their definition Behavioural category
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Definition
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exploration: EX Motor activity directed toward physical aspects of the environment,
including sniffing, and gentle oral examination such as licking
Locomotion: LO Walking or running around without exploring the environment (pacing)
Passive behaviour: PA Lying down with the head on ground without any obvious
orientation toward the physical or social environment
Oriented to the environment: OE Sitting, standing or lying down (the head does not rest on
the ground) with obvious orientation toward the physical or social environment, including
sniffing, close visual inspection, distant visual inspection (vigilance or scanning)
Scratching: SC All active behaviours resulting in physical contact with the cage/door,
including scratching the cage/door with the paws, jumping on the cage, handling with the
forelimbs
Oral behaviour: OB Any vigorous behaviour directed toward the environment/cage using
the mouth (including chewing, biting, shaking, pulling with the mouth)
Vocalisation: VO Barking, whining and howling
Play: PL Any vigorous or galloping gaited behaviour directed toward a toy; including
chewing, biting, shaking from side to side, scratching or batting with the paw, chasing
rolling balls and tossing using the mouth
Although, the dog may take the objects into it's mouth, destruction is not included in this
category
Not visible: NV Not visible (during these periods, activities like vocalisation, scratching,
chewing, were identified and recorded by the sound of the activity)
Grooming: GR The action of cleaning of the body surface by licking, nibbling, picking,
rubbing, scratching, etc. directed towards the animal's body (self-grooming)
Yawning: YA Yawning
Lip licking: LL Lip licking
Panting: PT Panting
Elimination: EL Urination, defecation
Inter-observer reliability was assessed by means of independent parallel coding of a
random sample of videotaped sessions (10%) using percentage agreement. Percentage
agreement was always more than 98%.
2.3.3. Statistical analysis
Categories such as locomotion, oral behaviour, not visible, grooming, panting and
elimination, were not considered for statistical analysis either because of total absence of
the given behaviour or short duration. A multivariate statistical analysis, principal
component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation, was used for the remaining observed
behavioural categories to determine the role of variables and detect common features.
Factor scores were calculated for puppies when the component's Eigen value was greater
than 1, in order to evaluate the distribution of the subjects according to the considered
variables and classed using the categories obtained from the questionnaire. Puppies were
assigned equally to two groups (group 1: <90 days and group 2: >90 days) in order to
assess the effect of age on behaviour. In order to describe the temporal distribution of
behaviours during subsequent intervals of 15 min for a total length of 90 min (six intervals
of 15 min each), a general linear model (GLM) analysis of variance for repeated measures
was performed using the age class as a fixed factor and time intervals as repetition.
3. Results
Most subjects (94.4%) lived in a house and 5.6% lived in an apartment. Most puppies
(77.8%) lived in households without children whereas some (22.2%) lived with adults, and
teenagers or children. Family composition for the puppies varied from single owners
(5.6%), to two adults (66.7%), and even several members (27.8%). In 44.4% of cases, the
puppy was a single pet. In about half the households (55.5%), another animal was present,
a dog in 33.3% of cases. Twelve puppies were single dogs, whereas six were living with at
least one other dog in the household. Fifty percent of puppies had limited access to
outdoors (fenced yard), 33.3% were taken out on leash and 11.1% were out both on leash
and in a fenced yard. Half the dogs (50.0%) were left home alone for a period ranging from
3 to 4 h daily, about a quarter (22.3%) for 1–2 h and one of them was never left home
alone. The remainder was left home alone for more than 5 h daily. Most (89%) of the
puppies, when left home alone, had toys available. The dog's daily routine was consistent
for most dogs (89.9%) and the same routine was maintained during the weekend in half the
households. Analysis of puppies’ behaviour on tape (Fig. 1) showed that they spent most of
their time exhibiting passive behaviour (77.4%) as opposed to being oriented to the
environment (12.6%). Some puppies vocalised 6.9% of the time while separated from the
owners. The puppies that tended to vocalise, yawn, scratch, lick their lips and orient to the
environment were younger than 90 days and recently adopted (<6 days). Play (4.1%),
exploratory behaviour (0.5%), grooming behaviour (0.6%), locomotion (0.6%), oral
behaviour (0.2%) and scratching (0.9%) were observed for short periods. Fifteen caged
puppies showed similar patterns of locomotion and passive behaviours to the three
puppies kept uncrated. Average frequencies per hour for yawning and lip licking were 2.0
and 1.3, respectively. No puppy eliminated during the initial 90 min of separation, and
panting behaviour was never observed.
Display Full Size version of this image (26K)
Fig. 1. Percentage duration of behaviours.
The PCA revealed two underlying components whose Eigen values were greater than 1
(Table 2). The first component (PC 1) showed positive loading for the behaviours oriented
to environment, vocalisations, yawning, lip licking and scratching behaviours and
negative loading for passive behaviour (Fig. 2). The second component (PC 2) showed
positive loading for exploratory and play behaviour. Individual puppies are plotted in Fig.
3. Puppies did not gather homogeneously but rather tended to separate into two groups on
PC 1: one group with higher variable values associated with behaviours such as oriented to
environment, vocalisations, yawning, lip licking and scratching and the second group
identified by higher variable values for passive behaviour. As shown in Fig. 3, female
puppies younger than 90 days, left alone between 2 and 4 h daily are clustered indicating
that they were more likely to vocalise, orient to the environment, yawn, scratch and lick
their lips. On the contrary, male puppies left alone for more than 2–4 h daily appear to be
more playful and explorative. Family composition, presence of other dogs in the
household, source of acquisition, age of adoption and weaning, presence of toys and
routines (weekdays and weekends) did not affect the distribution of the puppies on the
first two PCs.
Table 2.
Principal component analysis (PCA) of quantitative data calculated from correlation
matrix
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eigen value
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Explained variance %
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cumulative explained variance %
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PC1 3846 48081 48081
PC2 1898 23726 71807
Behaviour
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PC1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PC2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oriented to the environment 0.906a 0.009
Vocalisation 0.864 −0.191
Yawning 0.822 −0.031
Passive −0.742 −0.570
Lip licking 0.728 −0.045
Scratching 0.718 −0.219
Play −0.080 0.875
Exploration −0.022 0.848
a The most significant behaviours for each component are bold typed.
Display Full Size version of this image (30K)
Fig. 2. Projection for the loading of the behavioural variables considered for the first and
second principal component.
Display Full Size version of this image (21K)
Fig. 3. Plots of puppies in terms of first and second principal components.
As illustrated in Fig. 4a and b, passive behaviour increased significantly over time (p <
0.001) and was significantly lower during the first 15 min with respect to the other
observation periods (p < 0.05). Age class did not significantly affect duration of this
behaviour over time. The behaviour of orientation to the environment tended to decrease
(p = 0.08) over time. In particular the differences were significant when comparing the
first period to the second (p < 0.05) and third periods (p < 0.05). This behaviour also had
a tendency (p = 0.08) to be affected by age with puppies younger than 90 days tending to
orient more. Vocalisation decreased significantly (p < 0.05) over time. In particular,
puppies vocalised significantly more at the beginning of the observation compared to the
end. Vocalisation behaviour had a tendency to be influenced by age of puppy (p = 0.10).
Puppies younger than 90 days tended to vocalise more than older puppies. The three
puppies that vocalised throughout the entire duration of the tape were 61, 56, and 55 days
old and had been adopted 5, 4, and 2 days prior to the videotaping. Play behaviour
decreased significantly (p < 0.01) over time. Puppies played significantly more during
observations of the first 15-min period compared to all other periods except when
comparing period 1 to period 2. Play behaviour was significantly (p < 0.01) affected by
age. In fact, puppies older than 90 days played more than younger puppies especially
during the first observation periods. Exploration did not vary significantly over time and
was unaffected by age. Yawning did not vary significantly over time but was significantly
(p < 0.05) affected by age. Younger puppies yawned more frequently especially during the
initial observation periods. Lip licking did not vary significantly over time and was
unaffected by age.
Display Full Size version of this image (98K)
Fig. 4. Mean duration (s) of puppies behaviours during subsequent 15 min intervals of
observation. *(a–b) intervals with different letters differ significantly (p < 0.05). PL =
Play; VO = vocalisation; PA = passive.
4. Discussion
The aim of this study was to document puppies’ behaviours when left home alone because
separation-related problems are commonly reported as a reason for consultation in
referral behaviour practices. No data are currently available to describe normal
behaviours of puppies left alone and little data are available on actual age of onset of
separation-related problems. Diagnosis is generally based on indirect evidence such as
elimination or destruction during owner absence rather than on tapes of actual behaviours
and body language.
This exploratory study documents that puppies do not all behave similarly when left
alone. Puppies were clustered based on behaviours such as (1) playing and exploring or (2)
exhibiting passive behaviours or (3) presenting lip licking, yawning, scratching, orienting
to the environment and vocalising.
The puppies that tended to vocalise, yawn, scratch, lick their lips and orient to the
environment were younger than 90 days and recently adopted (<6 days). Many of these
behaviours are compatible with signs of anxiety or fear. There is a common stress
response resulting from either fear or anxiety (Casey, 2002). The specific appearance of a
fearful or anxious animal will vary but body posture tends to lower with fear, anxiety or
submission. The animal may yawn or lick its lips repeatedly, may tremble or may exhibit
piloerection (Neilson, 2002). Vocalisation can occur as a consequence of fear or anxiety
(Landsberg et al., 2003 and Overall, 1997). Beerda et al. (1998) found that dogs that were
subjected to different types of stressful stimuli performed more body shaking, crouching,
oral behaviours (tongue out, tip of tongue briefly extended, snout licking, swallowing,
smacking), yawning, restlessness and presented a low posture. Mouth licking, front paw
lifting, ears pulled back and lowered standing or sitting postures have also been reported
as indications of stress in dogs subjected to harsh training methods (Schwizgebel, 1982).
Another study (Hetts et al., 1992) found that dogs housed in the greatest degree of social
isolation spent the most time moving, exhibited the greatest number of abnormal
movements and vocalised the most. The behaviour of these young recently adopted
puppies could be explained by the fact that they were in a new social and physical
environment but the tendency to show anxiety-related behaviours applies to all puppies
aged less than 90 days, and not just to the recently adopted ones. Age of puppies affected
orientation to the environment, vocalisation, playing behaviour and yawning. Puppies
younger than 90 days had the tendency (p = 0.08) to orient more to the environment, to
vocalise more (p = 0.1), and to yawn significantly more (p < 0.05) but played significantly
less (p < 0.01) than puppies older than 90 days. Younger puppies are thus possibly more
stressed than older puppies.
Passive behaviour was the main behaviour exhibited by all puppies, although no
distinction between sleeping or resting behaviours could be made based solely on the
tapes. Puppies left home alone tended to be passive most of their time. As illustrated in
Fig. 4, passive behaviours increased over time for both puppies older and younger than 90
days. However, older puppies were less passive initially because they were playing
whereas younger puppies were less passive initially because they were oriented to the
environment and vocalised more. The increase in passive behaviour for the older group of
puppies could be a result of resting behaviour following play whereas the increase in
passive behaviour of the younger puppies could be the consequence of exhaustion. Older
puppies played and explored more. Passive behaviours and locomotion were not
influenced by the fact that puppies were caged.
Some of the puppies in our study vocalised. The three puppies that vocalised throughout
the entire duration of the tape were 61, 56, 55 days old and had been adopted 5, 4, and 2
days prior to the videotaping. When young puppies are distressed they usually begin to
emit a series of sounds. This kind of behaviour can be classified as et-epimeletic or care
soliciting behaviour. Unable to adapt to a situation, the young animal calls for help and
attention. In the puppy, the number of vocalisations in a particular period of time
provides an objective measure of the emotional state of the animal. For a young animal,
being lost from its mother in an unfamiliar environment is one of the most dangerous
situations, which can threaten its existence (Elliot and Scott, 1961).
Flanningan and Dodman (2001) found that separation anxiety was not more common in
dogs separated from their dam and littermates at an early age. Our study however
certainly raises additional questions. First, do all puppies show signs of distress when
initially adopted and first separated from owners? If not, are signs of distress in some
puppies simply a consequence of young age, recent change in environment or both? Or are
the vocal puppies more anxious? If so, could this vocalising behaviour be one of the first
signs of future separation-related disorders?
5. Conclusion
These results can serve as preliminary information documenting what behaviours puppies
perform when home alone. Ultimately, with additional studies the hope is to gain insight
on how these behaviours change over the first few months following adoption. As follow-
up, we plan to conduct a longitudinal study to collect data on how behaviours compatible
with anxiety evolve over time in puppies left home alone. This information may prove
useful for the early diagnosis, treatment or prevention of separation-related disorders.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Prof. Elisabetta Canali for funding part of this research and Prof.
Silvana Mattiello for her help in data analysis. We thank Dr. Enid Stiles for her
participation in finding interested puppy owners and Dr. Joël Dehasse for reading and
commenting on earlier versions of this manuscript. Finally, we would like to thank all the
owners and puppies that participated as volunteers.
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Applied Animal Behaviour Science
Volume 104, Issues 1-2, April 2007, Pages 61-70
| Puppy behaviours when left home alone: A pilot study |