Romero (2014) - THE DOGGO STUDY

Uses: Hormone / Animal study

Aim: Investigate the effect oxytocin have on dog's behaviour toward human.

Method: true experiment, placebo, double blind, counter balance.

Procedure:

• Dogs and their owner are assigned into either oxytocin or control group

• Dogs are sprayed with oxytocin or placebo

• Owner, the dog and another familiar dog partner go into a room for 1 hour

• Camera recorded room

• Owner move every 10 minutes to designated location.

• Owner do not interact with the dogs and the recording is analysed based on the dog's behaviour.

Results:

• Dogs sprayed with oxytocin showed higher affiliation towards their owner. Affiliation was operationalised as sniffing, licking, gentle touching with nose or paw, play bouts and body contact. They also spend more time in close proximity to the owner. Similar results were observed from the dog partner. Similar results were observed from the dog partner, with higher affiliation and approach behaviours in the oxytocin condition. Urine test also shows that the more often the dog interact with the owner and the other dog, the higher oxytocin it has.

Conclusion:

• Oxytocin leads the dogs to interact more with the human and the dog and the interactions affects the release of more oxytocin to be released which creates a loop between interaction and release of oxytocin.

Evaluation:

• No animal harmed (ethical)

• Direct to the theory

• Observational

• Placebo, controlled double blind, counter balance

• They are only dogs, can not be generalised.

Romero, T., Nagasawa, M., Mogi, K., Hasegawa, T., & Kikusui, T. (2014). Oxytocin promotes social bonding in dogs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(25), 9085–9090. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1322868111