Abstract

The introduction of animal-assisted therapy with the aim of treating a lot of human pathology, involves hard engagement for all the animals who co-operate in therapeutics session. Therefore it is very important to check the “co-therapist” dog’s state of health and welfare. The present study analyzed behavioural and haematic parameters and heart rate of six dogs “co-therapist” and of six “control” dog, to valuate dog’s welfare. The dogs were employed in weekly therapeutics sitting. Each one sitting’s length was 30 minutes for each patient. During the activity the dogs behavior has been video recorded and documented in a evaluation card.
The blood sample were analyzed, in particular, for a complete blood count, and AST, CPK, lactic acid, cholesterol, triglyceride, glycaemia, cortisol levels: first of all at the beginning of the study and secondly before immediately afterwards and 1 hour after the setting.
Our data confirms that behavioural parameters may help to identify a situation of stress in the dog, but they may be misinterpreted. Behavioural responses may differ between dogs, depending of stimulus and a dog’s individual characteristics (for example health’s conditions, life experiences). Adding a lot of physiological stress measurements, any parameters indicating good health status and behavioural analysis of dog may help to prevent the misinterpretation of dog’s welfare.

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