Durga ChapagainUniversity of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna | vetmed · Messerli Forschungsinstitut
Durga Chapagain
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
About
18
Publications
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Citations
Introduction
I am a researcher at Messerli Research Institute, VetMedUni, Vienna currently working in the project "Cognitive Ageing in pet dogs" supervised by Dr. Friederike Range and Dr. Zsofia Viranyi.
Education
May 2017 - November 2019
Publications
Publications (18)
Aging is associated with a decline in cognitive functions such as learning, memory, attention, cognitive flexibility, and executive functions. Recent evidence indicates that interventions such as exercise, diet and cognitive training can be used to reduce the rate of age-dependent cognitive decline. In this study, we examined the changes in discrim...
A decline in the physical or mental health of older dogs can be a challenge for the owners, whose relationship with their dog is compromised by the cognitive and behavioral changes in their dogs. Although dog owners tend to consider many physiological and behavioral changes in old dogs as part of the normal aging process, it is important to differe...
Aging of attentiveness affects cognitive functions like perception and working memory, which can seriously impact communication between dogs and humans, potentially hindering training and cooperation. Previous studies have revealed that aged laboratory beagles and pet Border collies show a decline in selective attention. However, much less is known...
Aged dogs suffer from reduced mobility and activity levels, which can affect their daily lives. It is quite typical for owners of older dogs to reduce all activities such as walking, playing and training, since their dog may appear to no longer need them. Previous studies have shown that ageing can be slowed by mental and physical stimulation, and...
Dogs demonstrate behavioural changes and cognitive decline during aging. Compared to laboratory dogs, little is known about aging in pet dogs exposed to different environments and nutrition. In this study, we examined the effects of age, an enriched diet and lifelong training on different behavioural and cognitive measures in 119 pet dogs (>6yrs)....
Cognitive aging in pet dogs of different breeds: effects of an enriched diet and lifelong training
Cognitive decline in dogs has been mostly studied in laboratory dogs, but little is known in pet dogs exposed to different environments and nutrition. In this study, we examined how age, enriched diet and lifelong training influence different behavi...
Aging of attentiveness in pet dogs: Does training make a difference?
Aging of attentiveness affects cognitive functions like perception and working memory, which can seriously impact communication between dogs and humans, potentially hindering training and cooperation. In previous studies, aged laboratory beagles and pet border collies showed decl...
Cognitive aging in pet dogs: an experimental study
Aging of learning and reasoning abilities in pet dogs: an assessment using computer automated tasks
Investigating the reward cycle for play in lamb
Lidfors, Lena and Chapagain, Durga, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department
of Animal Environment and Health, P.O. Box 234, 532 23 Skara, Sweden; Lena.Lidfors@slu.se
The expression of play in farm animals could be an indicator of positive emotions, but could
this be studied by using...
Projects
Project (1)
In this project we investigate the development and aging of various physical as well as social cognitive functions across 7 age groups from subadult to aged dogs kept as pets in usual Western European households.
Preliminary results of pet dogs tested in their natural environment found some age group differences. Very little is known, however, when dogs become cognitively mature and when their cognitive decline begins as they get older. We have developed two approaches that taken together will reveal a more complete picture of cognitive development and aging in dogs. Since different cognitive skills probably develop with different speed, a test battery is needed in order to fully explore dogs’ cognitive development and aging.
We are hoping to model the age-related changes of the 5 most important domains of dog cognition – individual problem solving and reasoning abilities; learning, memory and trainability; physical cognition; social attentiveness; and social cognition.
