Effects of human contact and toys on the fear responses to humans of shelter-housed dogs

Abstract

This study examined the effects of human contact and toys on fear responses to humans in small breed, shelter-housed dogs. Ninety dogs were assigned to one of three treatments: "control" (control), comprising routine husbandry performed by shelter staff; "human contact" (HC), where dogs additionally received 2. min positive contact daily with an experimenter; or "human contact. +. toys" (HCT), where the additional human contact included the opportunity to interact with toys. Treatments were implemented daily from day 2 (second day in the shelter) until day 6. On day 7, the fear response towards the experimenter was assessed using salivary cortisol concentrations and a human avoidance test. T..