Research Bites Podcast

Your host: Kristina Spaulding, PhD, CAAB with Science Matters Academy of Animal Behavior, LLC
My guest today is Dr. Monique Udell is a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist and an Associate Professor of Animal & Rangeland Sciences at Oregon State University, where she directs the Human-Animal Interactions Lab and teaches courses on Animal Behavior, Cognition and Learning. Much of her work focuses on the development of human-animal bonds, with wild and domesticated animals, and the impact that these bonds can have on the behavior and success of both species. She also studies the social behavior and cognition of a variety of species including cats, dogs, wolves and sheep. In addition, Dr. Udell is a Co-director of an imitation-based dog training intervention program dedicated to improving the physical activity and quality of life of children with and without developmental disabilities and their family dog. To find out more visit: https://thehumananimalbond.com/ In this episode we talk about a variety of topics including problem-solving, how dogs attend to humans and forming secure attachments.
This is a shortened version of the podcast. The full version of the podcast is available to Research Bites members. You can get more information on Research Bites and other educational opportunities at www.sciencemattersllc.com

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Your host: Kristina Spaulding, PhD, CAAB with Science Matters Academy of Animal Behavior, LLC
Today’s guest is Dr. Ádám Miklósi. He is a full professor and the leader of the Department of Ethology at the Eötvös University in Budapest (Hungary). He is also the co-founder and leader of the Family Dog Project ( http://familydogproject.elte.hu ) which studies human-dog interaction from an ethological perspective. In recent years he has also become interested in the automatization of measuring dog behavior and his research group has pioneered studying the neural and genetic aspects of dog behavior using non-invasive methods like fMRI and EEG.

Over more than twenty years The Family Dog Project published over 180 scientific papers, and organized several conferences.

In 2014 Miklósi published the second edition of an academic volume entitled Dog Behavior, Evolution and Cognition by Oxford University Press that summarizes the most recent status on dog oriented research. More recently, together with his colleagues, he published The Dog: A Natural History with Ivy Press, London. For more information on Dr. Miklósi and his lab visit: https://familydogproject.elte.hu/
In this episode we talk about meeting the needs of dogs, approaches to training, imitation, self-awareness, exceptional word learning capabilities in certain dogs, and much more.
This is a shortened version of the podcast. The full version of the podcast is available to Research Bites members. You can get more information on Research Bites and other educational opportunities at www.sciencemattersllc.com

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In this episode, I speak with Doctor Clive Wynne. Dr. Wynne is Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University and Director of Research at Wolf Park, Indiana. He was educated at University College London and Edinburgh University in Scotland and has studied animal behavior in Britain, Germany, the U.S., and Australia in species ranging from pigeons to dunnarts (a mouse-sized marsupial). Several years ago he founded the Canine Cognition and Behavior Lab dedicated to the study of dogs and their wild relatives. As well as numerous scientific papers, he has also written for Psychology Today, American Scientist, the New York Times, and other outlets. His science has been featured on several TV shows such as National Geographic, Nova ScienceNow, and others. He is the author of the textbook Animal Cognition (now in a new edition) and former editor-in-chief of the journal Behavioural Processes. His most recent book is Dog is Love: Why and How Your Dog Loves You (Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, 2020).

In this episode, we talk about the current state of dog behavior research, anthropomorphism, and the science of clicker training.
Dr. Wynne's page: https://www.clivewynne.com/
Arizona State University page: https://search.asu.edu/profile/2218677

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00:00 Introduction to Research Bites Podcast
00:30 Join the Research Bites Membership
01:08 Introducing Dr. Sara Hintze
02:01 Dr. Hintze's Journey into Animal Welfare
04:43 The Evolution of Animal Welfare Science
06:22 Understanding Positive Welfare in Animals
09:33 Challenges in Measuring Animal Emotions
14:58 Individual Differences in Animal Welfare
19:28 Cognitive Bias and Optimism in Animals
22:28 Assessing Well-Being in Individual Animals
28:40 Balancing Individual Differences in Animal Training
30:23 The Importance of Addressing Underlying Problems
33:01 Introduction to Flow in Animal Behavior
34:10 Defining Intrinsic Reward and Flow
37:13 Exploring Flow in Animals
48:31 Inducing Flow in Companion Animals
51:39 Future Directions in Animal Welfare Research
54:28 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
In this episode of the Research Bites podcast, host Dr. Kristina Spaulding welcomes Dr. Sara Hintze, who studies animal welfare and emotions. They discuss the evolution of the study of animal welfare, shifting from focusing solely on reducing suffering to promoting positive emotional states. Dr. Hintze explains the complexities of measuring subjective experience in animals and highlights research related to cognitive bias, optimism, and individual differences in animal behavior. The conversation also delves into the intriguing concept of 'flow' in animals, exploring how activities such as herding and hunting might induce a state of intrinsic reward. The importance of choice, agency, and varied enrichment for enhancing animal well-being is also discussed.
For more information about Dr. Hintze, you can click here.

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Summary
In this conversation, I discuss two research papers related to dog behavior. The first paper explores the influence of puppy whines on maternal behavior in dogs. The study found that puppy whines trigger maternal care - with stronger maternal care in response to the mother's own puppies. The second paper examines the impact of different enrichment interventions on the stress levels of dogs in a shelter. The study suggests that housing dogs with conspecifics may be beneficial in reducing stress. However, the results are not clear cut and I discuss the limitations and challenges in interpreting this study.
Takeaways

• Puppy whines can influence maternal behavior in dogs, and mothers can identify their own puppies based on the acoustics of their whines.
• Housing dogs with conspecifics may help reduce stress levels in shelter dogs.
• Individual variation in shelter dogs is important to consider.
• Interpreting results in stress-related studies is complex - I discuss some of the important points to consider.

Chapters
00:00 The Influence of Puppy Whines on Maternal Behavior in Dogs
10:19 Enrichment Interventions and Stress Levels in Shelter Dogs
References
Massenet, M., Philippe, R., Pisanski, K., Arnaud, V., Barluet de Beauchesne, L., Reynaud, K., ... & Reby, D. (2024). Puppy whines mediate maternal behavior in domestic dogs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(22), e2316818121.
Corsetti, S., Natoli, E., Palme, R., & Viggiano, E. (2023). Intraspecific interactions decrease stress affecting welfare in shelter dogs: A comparison of four different housing conditions. Animals, 13(11), 1828.
If you'd like to learn more or contact Dr. Spaulding, you can do so through our website www.sciencemattersllc.com.

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• Research Bites: https://sciencemattersllc.com/research-bites
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