Applied Animal Behaviour Science最新文献

{"title":"Quantifying behavioural impairment as a proxy for physiological stress to improve welfare of imperilled white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) during routine sampling efforts","authors":"Connor H. Reid ,&nbsp;James A. Crossman ,&nbsp;Marco M. Marello ,&nbsp;Luc LaRochelle ,&nbsp;Steven J. Cooke","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106762","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106762","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The white sturgeon (<em>Acipenser transmontanus</em>) is a large-bodied imperilled fish species of significant conservation interest in western North America. Since 2002, hatchery-origin fish have been released in the Upper Columbia River’s Transboundary Reach to support population recovery, and captured with baited setlines as part of routine monitoring of fish health and reproductive status. Here, we investigated whether the use of increasingly long and intensive sampling protocols was associated with differences in short-term post-release behaviour derived from biologger data. In addition to basic sampling (e.g., body measurements, fin clipping), we exposed hatchery-origin juveniles to blood sampling; blood sampling and ultrasonography for sex determination; and blood sampling, ultrasonography, and gonadal biopsy surgeries. We also quantified the stress of setline-captured fish prior to processing using whole-blood glucose and lactate and compared these values (mean ± SD glucose = 4.2 ± 1.4 mmol/l; lactate = 5.9 ± 3.0 mmol/l) to those from an angled baseline group (glucose 1.5 ± 0.2 mmol/l; most lactate &lt; 0.3 mmol/l). Overall, sampling regime did not affect tri-axial accelerometer-derived post-release locomotor activity (overall and vectorized dynamic body acceleration) or depth preferences over the course of 10 min trials, and the stress induced by setline capture and retrieval appears to be a major contribution to the total stress experienced by these fish. We offer some recommendations to improve the routine sampling protocols used in management efforts in this system and elsewhere.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"292 ","pages":"Article 106762"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144710967","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The maternal-offspring relationship in tailed and docked ewes and their lambs","authors":"Jocelyn M. Woods,&nbsp;Sarah J.J. Adcock","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106775","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106775","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Maternal behavior in the hours after lambing is critical for establishing the lamb–dam bond. In rodents, early-life pain alters maternal behavior, but it is unclear whether routine painful procedures like tail docking have similar long-term effects in sheep. We tested whether neonatal tail docking in female lambs altered (1) their maternal behavior and their offspring’s behavior after lambing and (2) behavioral and physiological stress responses to separation. Polypay ewe lambs were tail docked using the rubber ring method between 24 and 36 h of age (n = 11) or left undocked (n = 10). At approximately 13 months of age, they gave birth to singleton (n = 6) or twin (n = 15) litters. Between 30 and 60 min after the last lamb’s birth, the ewe and her lamb(s) were moved to an individual maternity pen, where behaviors were video recorded for 2 h. Between 6 and 12 h after lambing, the lambs were separated from their dam for 15 min, with video recordings taken from 15 min before separation until 15 min after reunion. Eye temperatures of ewes and lambs were assessed using infrared thermography immediately before and after separation as indicators of physiological stress. For all video recordings, we analyzed the duration the ewe spent eating, pacing, lying, and grooming her lamb(s), as well as the duration the lambs spent wagging their tail, nursing, and lying. Transitions from lying to standing were also recorded for ewes and lambs in the 2-hour postnatal period. All models included the dam’s tail docking status as a fixed effect with litter size (singleton vs twin) as a factor covariate; separation models also included observation period (before, during, and after separation). We found no significant effect of the dam’s tail docking status on maternal and offspring behavior following lambing or on their responses to separation. However, lambs of undocked ewes tended to spend more time lying in the postnatal period compared to lambs of docked ewes. Behavioral changes during and after separation – including increased pacing and reduced eating in ewes during separation, and increased grooming and nursing following reunion – suggest that separation was stressful, regardless of the ewe’s tail docking status. No differences were observed in eye temperatures before and after separation. Overall, we did not find evidence to suggest that neonatal tail docking impairs the ewe’s ability to bond with or care for her lambs later in life.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"292 ","pages":"Article 106775"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144810137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Short- or long-term affect? Disentangling the effects of emotion and mood on pigs’ decisions on a Judgement Bias Task","authors":"Sara Hintze ,&nbsp;Katharine Creagh ,&nbsp;Lorenz Gygax ,&nbsp;Jean-Loup Rault","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106748","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106748","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Judgement Bias Task (JBT) is a promising proxy measure of animals’ affective states, a growing field in animal welfare science and beyond. However, it remains unclear if judgement biases are predominantly affected by long-term mood, short-term emotions or a combination of both. This study aimed to systematically disentangle the effect of mood- and emotion-inducing treatments on pigs’ decisions on a JBT using positive human-pig interactions as affect manipulation. Across three batches, thirty-six pigs were trained on a spatial Go/No-go task with active trial initiation. During the three weeks of training and during testing, 12 pigs were administered five minutes of positive interactions daily with a familiar human (MoodPlus), whereas the remaining 24 pigs did not receive such treatment (MoodMinus). When pigs were tested on the JBT, all 12 MoodPlus and 12 of the MoodMinus pigs received three test sessions that were preceded by five minutes of positive interactions (EmoPlus) and three test sessions without positive interaction before (EmoMinus). The remaining 12 MoodMinus pigs were allocated to a control group, which did not receive any specific positive interaction treatment. Thirty pigs (83 %) reached the learning criterion and were tested across six test sessions. Pigs from all treatment groups showed highly “optimistic” responses to all ambiguous cues, leading to a ceiling effect, which may have overshadowed potential treatment differences (all effects apart from cue type: <span><math><msubsup><mrow><mi>χ</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>1</mn></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msubsup></math></span> ≤ 1.75, p ≥ 0.19). Results from Human Approach and Avoidance Tests at the end of the study and the analysis of the behaviour of pigs during EmoPlus sessions indicated that all pigs, independent of treatment, had developed a positive relationship with the experimenter over the course of the study. These results suggest that positive human-animal interactions may not be an ideal treatment in the context of JBT when training requires regular contact with humans. MoodMinus pigs tended to respond more “optimistically” in EmoMinus sessions than Control pigs (χ²₁ = 3.58, p = 0.06), which may indicate a carry-over effect from EmoPlus to EmoMinus sessions. We call for future studies with a different treatment than human-animal interactions that implements both long- and short-term interventions in a systematic way to disentangle the effect of mood and/or emotion on judgement biases.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"292 ","pages":"Article 106748"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144694460","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Variations in cow behaviour after regrouping in a conventional Swedish dairy herd","authors":"Maya Gussmann ,&nbsp;Hector Marina ,&nbsp;Keni Ren ,&nbsp;Lars Rönnegård ,&nbsp;Per Peetz Nielsen","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106790","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106790","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A common management practice of commercial dairy farms is grouping cows according to their nutritional needs. Having different lactation groups also implies the regrouping of animals during their lactation period. Real-time locating systems based on ultra-wideband devices provide information about the cow’s position inside barns. This information can be used to infer time budgets and animal locations on a continuous basis. The present study aimed to evaluate the behavioural changes that could be induced in dairy cows when regrouping between lactation groups by using location data obtained from real-time locating systems technology. This study is based on observational data from a commercial dairy farm, where 12 regrouping events, each involving between 3 and 15 cows, were recorded without any experimental intervention. The analyses included six months of data from two lactation groups with around 100 cows in each group. The effects of regrouping on time budgets and home range were analysed by comparing changes in regrouped cows before and after the process, and by comparing regrouped cows with their matched controls. The results showed that regrouping had a slight impact on the feeding and resting times of dairy cows. In contrast, parity was associated with opposing effects on feeding and resting times. Furthermore, regrouped cows tended to cover a larger area of the barn. The extent to which regrouped cows increased their use of barn space was also affected by the number of cows regrouped simultaneously. Our analysis of location data from a commercial dairy herd provides new insights into the impact of regrouping events on cow behaviour and welfare in commercial settings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"292 ","pages":"Article 106790"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144885581","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development of experimental parameters for conditioned place aversion testing in neonatal goat kids","authors":"Erica Schmidt ,&nbsp;Beth A. Ventura ,&nbsp;Benjamin Lecorps ,&nbsp;Whitney A. Knauer","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106749","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106749","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Conditioned place aversion (CPA) is a behavioral assay used to investigate animals’ affective responses. Animals are typically conditioned to differing experiences in different places, whereupon they are expected to avoid the place where they experienced the most negative (or least positive) experience based on their memory of the events. This approach has been used to assess the affective component of pain in farm animals but has not yet been applied to neonatal goat kids. As animals’ preferences for different environments may be affected by several environmental factors, our objectives were to assess 1) whether side (left or right) and color (red, white, yellow, or blue) influenced kids' preferences and 2) whether kids should be acclimated to the CPA test apparatus alone or in pairs based on their exploratory and vocalization responses (used as proxy measures of stress). 96 goat kids (8 ± 4d) were randomly allocated to testing in pairs (n = 24 pairs) or alone (n = 48 kids) for a 15-minute acclimation test in a three-compartment pen (two colored side compartments linked by a middle neutral compartment). Kids spent more time in the blue compartment compared to yellow but showed no statistical difference in time spent in blue compared to white or red compartments. Additionally, kids displayed a preference for the right compartment compared to the left, regardless of compartment/color combination. When tested alone as compared to in pairs, kids vocalized five times more and halved their number of visits to side compartments. We suggest that of the color combinations examined in the current study, blue and white appear to be suitable choices for use in future CPA experiments, but side preference must be accounted for in experimental design. Further, acclimating kids to CPA tests in pairs, rather than alone, is recommended to reduce stress and promote exploration. Further work is needed to confirm whether the side bias found here persists in other testing contexts (e.g., after conditioning), and to clarify the impact of testing conditioned place aversion in individual goat kids.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"292 ","pages":"Article 106749"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144679169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring the effect of the Moon cycle on pigeon homing","authors":"Petr Jandačka ,&nbsp;Petr Martinec ,&nbsp;Miloslav Lupták ,&nbsp;Hynek Burda","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106754","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106754","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores the intriguing potential influence of the Moon's phases on the homing orientation of pigeons. Leveraging a comprehensive dataset of 289 pigeon racing records, covering distances from 333 to 550 km and averaging 2186 pigeons per race, we analyzed the natural homing behavior of pigeons, where variability in speed was notably impacted by weather conditions. This non-experimental approach offers valuable insights into a longstanding question in avian navigation. By employing nonlinear regression analysis of homing speed in relation to the Moon's phase, we identified a potential cyclical pattern, suggesting a lunar influence. We propose three hypotheses to explain this relationship: the first posits that pigeons may synchronize their behavior with visual sensing the lunar cycle; the second examines the role of the Moon’s gravitational effect on pigeon navigation; and the third considers how tidal forces in the Earth’s liquid core might influence geomagnetic fields, thereby affecting orientation. This study opens the door to a deeper understanding of the Moon’s role in avian navigation and the broader implications for animal behavior studies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"292 ","pages":"Article 106754"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144679166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"No evidence for object play in the dwarf cuttlefish, Sepia bandensis","authors":"Kira Lemke,&nbsp;Robyn J. Crook","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106765","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106765","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cephalopods are marine invertebrates renowned for their complex brains and behaviors, and are widely used in studies of learning, memory, visual processing and motor control. Their dynamic skin coloration and high activity levels also make them appealing in educational and display settings. Despite large numbers of cephalopods used and bred for research and education worldwide, our understanding of welfare and husbandry needs remain rudimentary. Whilst a few studies have focused on enrichment for octopuses, there have been no similar controlled studies for cuttlefish. Here, we examine if a commonly used enrichment for octopuses - provision of play objects - provides welfare enhancements for captive-bred dwarf cuttlefish, <em>Sepia bandensis</em>. Over the course of several weeks, cuttlefish housed in either enriched or impoverished conditions were exposed to four types of potential play objects, each providing different sensory stimulation and potential for interaction. Cuttlefish were recorded in their home tanks in the presence and absence of each object (or group of objects), and interactions, affiliations and temporal patterns of behavior were analyzed to quantify potential play behavior. Although we observed some evidence for affiliation with objects in the impoverished condition, we found no evidence for affiliation in the enriched housing group, and no evidence in either group for interactive play behavior with any of the objects provided. Thus we conclude that cuttlefish are unlikely to engage in object play, further highlighting their distinct behavioral repertoire as compared to octopuses, and thus will likely not derive welfare benefits from provision of play objects if housed appropriately.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"292 ","pages":"Article 106765"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144702457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Behavior and physiological responses to acoustic stimuli in Taurine and Zebuine cattle","authors":"Roberta Farias Silveira ,&nbsp;Vivian Fischer ,&nbsp;Ricardo Zambarda Vaz ,&nbsp;Adroaldo Zanella ,&nbsp;Willian Barros ,&nbsp;Isabella Dias Barbosa Silveira","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106801","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106801","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Taurine and zebu cattle behave distinctly modulated by their genotype and previous experience. We hypothesized that the greater reactivity of Zebu compared with Taurine cattle during daily routine management practice is partially due to the faster perception of sounds. This study aimed to evaluate behavioral and physiological variables of taurines and zebuines before and after the exposure to six acoustic stimuli and a control (without acoustic stimulus). Thirty-nine cows, comprising 19 Aberdeen Angus, AA (<em>Bos taurus taurus</em>) and 20 Nellore (<em>Bos taurus indicus</em>) were enrolled in this study. Six acoustic stimuli were evaluated. The three sounds evaluated were calves mooing, dogs barking and handler commands (e.g. stimulating displacement of cattle), and the sound frequencies were low (65 Hz), intermediate (8 kHz) and high (20 kHz). At each acoustic stimulus, we considered the first behavioral reaction expressed by the animals and the behaviors were registered in an ethogram. Immediately before and after the acoustic stimuli test, we measured body temperature with a thermographic camera (IRT) at the right and left lacrimal caruncles, and at the muzzle as well we determined blood glucose concentration. Further, on other date, reactivity was evaluated using flight distance and behavior score and the interaural distance was measured. The study was conducted according to factorial considering genetic group and acoustic stimuli, and each cow was considered an experimental unit, totaling 39 cows (19 AA and 20 Nellore). AA and Nellore cows did not exhibit any of the behaviors linked to hearing in the absence of sound stimuli. All acoustic stimuli provoked behavior reactions in both groups, notably handler commands, dogs barking, low and high frequencies lead to increased frequency and odds ratio of presenting head movement, ears directed towards the sound source in Nellore compared with AA. Blood glucose concentration and IRT measured at the muzzle were similar for groups, while IRT at the both lacrimal caruncles increased after acoustic stimuli test only in Nellore group. The interaural distance was shorter in Nellore compared with AA cows. Nellore cows had greater values for behavior score and flight distance than AA cows. Compared with AA cows, Nellore cows are more reactive and exhibit higher frequency of behaviors related to sound perception (e.g., head movement, ears in alert position or directed towards the sound) probably linked to faster sound perception due to their shorter interaural distance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"292 ","pages":"Article 106801"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144920241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing cat care: Unveiling the technology of intelligent litter box monitoring","authors":"LeAnn Snow,&nbsp;Natalie Langenfeld-McCoy,&nbsp;Helber Dussan,&nbsp;Olivia Arndt,&nbsp;Nicholas Schoeneck,&nbsp;Sarah Thomas,&nbsp;Ragen T.S. McGowan","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106811","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106811","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While interest in feline elimination behavior in litter boxes tends to focus on factors related to the pain-points of pet cat care, there have been recent efforts to develop “smart” devices to track litter box activity as a means to observe and assess cat health. The intelligence of these devices is limited, however, given the complexity of measuring cat behavior within the constraints of the litter box environment. Here, we describe the successful development of an intelligent device that has proved a means to systematically document feline elimination patterns across a large, representative sample. The device is equipped with load cell sensors within a platform that is placed unobtrusively under a cat’s existing litter box. The rigorously developed AI models relied on a supervised learning methodology rooted in a feature generation module, all of which was made possible by a robust truth dataset of hundreds of thousands of carefully labeled litter box events captured on camera. The AI engine of this new tool can confidently distinguish Cat from Human events as well as identify the type of Cat event that is occurring (i.e., urination, defecation, non-elimination), unique cats, and duration metrics, among other event features. The performance of all models meets or exceeds the 80 % confidence threshold indicating that this device is a reliable tool that can be leveraged for future research into additional aspects of feline elimination.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"292 ","pages":"Article 106811"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145019117","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A critical review of research concerning the gut microbiome in dogs and its relationship with behaviour","authors":"Agnese Crisante ,&nbsp;Fiona Newberry ,&nbsp;Simon R. Clegg ,&nbsp;Gabriella L. Mitchell ,&nbsp;Thomas W. Pike ,&nbsp;Vicky Ratcliffe ,&nbsp;Adele Spain ,&nbsp;Anna Wilkinson ,&nbsp;Helen Zulch ,&nbsp;Daniel S. Mills","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106755","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106755","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>There is growing interest in how the complex assembly of microorganisms (the microbiome) in an animal’s gut influences various aspects of the host’s health, physiology, and behaviour. However, the microbiome itself is shaped by a range of factors and so the direction of causal effects is difficult to determine. Given growing interest in the interaction between the microbiome and behaviour in dogs, we sought to provide a rapid and accessible introduction to the topic, focused on key concepts and considerations. We start by critically reviewing the scientific literature on the factors affecting the composition of the gut microbiome in dogs. This provides the context for our subsequent assessment of studies that have specifically examined the relationship between the gut microbiome and behavioural traits and related cognitive capabilities in dogs. Emerging evidence suggests a link between gut microbiome composition and behavioural and cognitive outcomes, including anxiety, stress responses, and learning abilities. However, given the relative immaturity of this field, there is little replication and studies are not easily comparable. Accordingly, specific associations and mechanistic explanations need to be treated with caution at this time. Our findings underscore the need for comprehensive, standardised research methodologies, including data sharing, and the need for consistent reporting that clearly recognises and acknowledges the wide range of influential factors (and thus limitations) in proposed control/reference populations. Therefore, claims relating to the influence of the gut-brain axis in dogs need to carefully expressed and nuanced.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"292 ","pages":"Article 106755"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144686743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}