title: Effects of exercise and human contact on animal welfare in a dog shelter.
abstract: The aim of the study is to investigate the reduction of stress in dogs in municipal shelters through easy-to-implement activities, ie, 25-minute sessions of exercise and human contact, that do not require a significant investment in terms of funding, staff or time. The results demonstrate that the dogs taking part in these sessions have lower salivary cortisol levels (F=121.42; P<0.05) and achieve better scores on a behaviour test (t(17)=4.27; P=0.001). It can therefore be affirmed that the exercise and human contact protocol proposed in the present study diminishes stress and improves the welfare of dogs housed in shelters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Animal Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Rabanales University Campus, Córdoba E-14014, Spain. pv2mecad@uco.es
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Menor-Campos
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Molleda-Carbonell
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: López-Rodríguez
mesh_terms: D000827:Animal Welfare; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D004285:Dogs / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D001841:Human-Animal Bond; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone