Pressure vest may speed up the after-noise recovery of noise phobic dogs

Fear of loud noises is a common welfare problem in pet dogs. Commercial treatment vests have been tested on dogs to relieve noise phobia, and peripheral oxytocin has been suggested to be one of the stress-relieving mediators. The effect of vests has not, however, been tested in a controlled situation.

We tested in a co-operation project of the universities Helsinki and Oulu whether individually customized vests, have an effect on behaviour of severely noise phobic dogs in a double-blinded experiment, where dogs are exposed to loud noises. We also investigated the possible effect of pressure by using two types of vests ; a deep pressure vest  and a light pressure vest. The vests were custom made by (Tampere, Finland). In addition to behaviour, we studied if the pressure vest has an effect on urine oxytocin level and on saliva cortisol levels.

28 dogs  were recruited via an ongoing study on the genetic background of noise sensitivity by . Each dog was tested three times either without vest  or with or  vests in a semi-randomized order. The dogś behaviour was video recorded for 6 minutes, including three 2 minutes intervals: pre-noise, noise (70–73 dB firework sound) and recovery. Saliva samples were collected twice before and twice after the noise test. Urine samples for oxytocin analyses were collected when the deep pressure vest was first fitted.

 We did not find a clear therapeutic effect of using pressure vests in noise phobic dogs. The pressure vest changed the behaviour of dogs during a noise interval in a double-blinded, controlled experiment, but only to a limited extent. The vest facilitated dogs to seek comfort from their owners and reduced the time dogs spent freezing.

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doctoral student Anne-Marie Pekkin, University of Oulu

anne.pekkin(at)student.oulu.fi

researcher Katriina Tiira, FT, Smartdog KY/ University of Helsinki

katriina.tiira(at)helsinki.fi

project head, professor Anna Valros, Faculty of veterinary medicine, University of Finland

anna.valros(at)helsinki.fi