Lieve Lucia Meers

• BIAAT Foundation

Animals, including humans, have evolved species-specific social behaviours, including affiliative behaviours and communication systems, varying among species. Some physical interactions humans enjoy when interacting with dogs may not always be perceived as pleasant by dogs, with possible negative effects on the relationship and the development of u...

Behavioural problems increase the risk of dogs being returned after rehoming (Protopopova and Gunter, 2017), and can vary depending on the type of dog (Normando et al., 2021). We aimed to investigate the factors associated with the presence of behavioural problems reported in at least ¼ of the rehomed galgos (Spanish sighthounds). Data on a conveni...

Training is envisaged to progress from traditional, often coercive, methods to those promoting positive welfare. We investigated factors associated with differences in attitudes towards training methods used in horse and dog training, using a convenience sample of 339 respondents to a dedicated online survey. Generalized estimated equations were ru...

The first month post-adoption can be important in determining whether the dog is retained (Thomas et al., 2017). We investigated whether adopters age and gender, dogs sex (female, male), age and colour (mostly non-brindle black vs other) influenced the reporting of behavioural problems in the first month post-adoption in recently (28-180 days) adop...

Reported prevalence of behavioural problems vary widely, even among studies using questionnaires targeted at caretakers. One of the contributing factors could be that answers do not depend solely on the question/answer content, but also on how the question/answer is structured (Schwarz,1999; Schaeffer, 2003). We aimed to investigate whether the way...

The act of interacting with and showing affection to dogs, particularly through touch, has been shown to evoke positive physiological responses in humans, including the release of endorphins, oxytocin, and phenylethylamine (Odendaal & Lehman, 2000), coupled with a decrease in cortisol levels (Handlin et al. 2011). This positive feeling elicited by...

There is a paucity of knowledge regarding the binturong’s (Arctictis binturong) behavior in captivity, which L. Abra (2010) highlight. This may disadvantage the welfare of this species in captivity. The present preliminary study aimed to explore the effects of putative enrichment provision on the behavior of a pair of binturongs (Charly, a 15-year-...

Over the past 20 years, canine-assisted interventions (CAIs) have become popular programs in which dogs are involved in diverse settings to facilitate/augment/catalyze predetermined needs of individuals during ther-apy/activities/or learning [1]. This study aims to identify the policies and practices influencing the implementation of CAIs focusing...

Humans express feelings of love/a ection/care verbally/demonstratively via touching/holding/carry-ing/feeding/kissing/leaning into each other. However, human behaviours targeting dogs, expressing love/a ection, may cause stress in dogs, elicit calming signals, or even defensive/fearful/aggressive behaviour (e.g., bites/snap-ping). In the current st...

Human-, animal-and ecosystems health are interdependent. Recent climate change facilitates ticks questing in previously non-endemic areas and spreading tick-borne diseases (TBD) almost year-round, increasing risk for animals (livestock/pets/rodents etc.) grazing/playing/walking in long grass near undergrowth/tree trunks/stones and for humans, limit...

Dogs modulate their social behaviour in response to the species of the other partner(s) and to the situation or context of the interaction. In the present study, reluctance to join other dogs in play, exhibited by whippets and Italian greyhounds (two sighthound breeds) was investigated, with regard to breed. The effects of the possible canine play...

Play behaviour observed in both puppy and adult domestic dogs, occurs socially with conspecifics and humans and asocially with objects. It is enigmatic and its function is still debated. This study aims to study humans' "play behaviour" as seen in social media and dogs' responses to it.

Efficient environmental enrichment programs positively affect the behavior of animals in captivity suggestive ofimprovements in their quality of life and is supported empirically. The study aimed to evaluate the effects of some putative environmental enrichments on a group of lorikeetshoused in an enclosure in an Italian zoo.

CAIs (canine-assisted interventions) include ‘canine-assisted therapy’ in which a therapist sets client-oriented goals, 'canine-assisted activities' with recreational goals, and 'canine-assisted education/learning' in which teachers/coaches create learning goals for clients. Although most definitions of CAIs mention the involvement of a selected an...

Similar behaviours may have different meanings for humans and dogs; humans demonstrate affection by hugging, they grasp others around the shoulders, hold them (sometimes tightly) against their bodies and/or kiss cheek and/or mouth. When dogs put their paws on top of another being, it is considered intimidation to advise the other to yield. It does...

The Five Domains Model provides an assessment tool for the welfare of ornamental-birds; which includes appropriate housing conditions with environmental enrichment (EE), recognized to be an important factor to achieve good welfare standards. However, financial, practical and time-budget constraints in addition to human belief, may frequently preven...

Many dogs world-wide spend a large part of their lives in rescue shelters, and many studies have investigated their behaviour, with the primary aim of improving their quality of life. There are many factors which can affect or influence, the results of these studies. Some of these may be controlled by human intervention such as: environmental enric...

Moral distress occurs when one cannot act in accordance with one’s core moral values. This study focuses on experiences in companion-animal veterinary practice in different countries.

Dogs may be considered family members. However, they tend to be categorized legally as property rather than as sentient beings, limiting their protection. This study aims to summarize municipal dog regulations in Flanders (Belgium).

Veterinarians are often faced with stressful welfare situations, in which doing their professional moral duty by their patient conflicts with owners’ interests/reality constraints. We investigated whether some of these situations were experienced differently when practicing with privately-owned versus shelter pets.

How much a dog is perceived as reliable by their caretaker is an important feature of the relationship, being deemed especially important e.g., for dogs involved in animal-assisted interventions (Filugelli et al., 2021). The present study aimed at investigating possible predictors of the reliability score caretakers assigned to their dogs.

Video recordings are often used to study animals in controlled environments using quantitative behavioural methods. However, the possible methodological issues arising from using indirect rather than direct observations are seldom investigated. This study investigated the differences between data gathered during direct observations and during video...

Since the Covid-19 pandemic started (November 2019), new institutional safety protocols were developed. This study investigated the impact of Covid-19 protocols on the welfare of dogs involved in canine-assisted interventions. Between 01/12/2020 and 18/11/21, an email survey was sent to therapists who were currently conducting canine-assisted inter...

Varying views regarding belief in animal mind (BAM) can be controversial. People’s beliefs may be inß uenced by their experience of animals. This study investigated perception of BAM in 3 categories of person in respect to owning/breeding ornamental birds.

Assistance Dog (AD) work, has rapidly grown; ethics prompts consideration of tasks which could be replaced by technology, particularly those recognised to pose welfare risk to ADs, taking into consideration economic/social cost/benefit. Cultural considerations vary, regarding what is acceptable between countries and continents. Initially, animals w...

The pandemic provided the catalyst for developing new health safety protocols. However, the impact of temporary lockdowns on companion animal welfare requires careful assessment. This study focuses on experiences in veterinary practices in Flanders (Belgium), Ireland and Portugal.

Animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) include 'animal-assisted therapy' (AAT) in which a therapist sets client-oriented goals, 'animal-assisted activities' (AAA) with recreative goals, and 'animal-assisted education/learning' (AAE/AAL) in which teachers or coaches have learning goals for clients. Many scientific studies suggest that an emotional bon...

CAIs (canine-assisted interventions) include “canine-assisted therapy” in which a therapist sets client-oriented goals, 'canine-assisted activities' with recreational goals for clients, and 'canine-assisted education/learning' in which teachers or coaches create learning goals for students or clients. CAIs vary in nearly every way; their only commo...

The Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus), the Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) as well as the Europe-an wildcat (Felis silvestris) are iconic European felids. Nevertheless, they are threatened by habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, and prey depletion. The present study investigated how many of these wildlife ambassadors live in Italian zoos and some possibly wel...

Dolphin-assisted therapy (DAT) has become very popular because people often hope that close contact with these animals may benefit therapy. One mechanism through which dolphins have been hypothesized to help patients is through ultrasounds emitted during echolocation clicks having healing effects under some circumstances such as sufficient intensit...

Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, there has been concern that domestic animals may help spread SARS-Cov-2. This concern also greatly affected human-animal interaction projects such as animal-assisted interventions (AAIs). As a result, institutions and AAI practitioners developed new safety protocols and procedures to help control the spread of t...

The welfare of domesticated rabbits is influenced by diverse factors including, standards of husbandry (provision of appropriate food, satiety of hunger and thirst), appropriate housing (resting areas, cage/enclosure size, floor type, hygiene, thermal comfort, shelter), opportunities to exhibit appropriate behaviours (species-specific behaviour, in...

Given the importance of scientifically investigating signs of good welfare and positive emotional states in dogs, the present pilot study aimed to investigate behaviours expressed by whippets and Italian greyhounds when in two positive emotional states, as perceived by their caretakers. A dedicated questionnaire was developed and uploaded on a digi...

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a significant risk of infection, to humans. COVID-19 restrictions were introduced, to control the spread of infection. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 restrictions, on assistance dogs and their users.

Although animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) share specific characteristics, their differences can be quite significant (Lajoie, 2003). Most research on AAIs focuses on the human side (Muñoz Lasa et al., 2011). The autonomy and well-being of the animals involved are seldom studied, as well as the possible values of conflict between humans and anim...

The investigation of visitors’ profiles and attitudes is a crucial starting point for planning an effective conservation education strategy as it’s pointed out in EAZA Conservation Education Standards. We investigated if Italian visitors are aware of the potential of zoos and ready to support their actions. This abstract focuses on 4 of the 24 ques...

Humane education is a long-standing field of education that endeavors to nurture kindness, compassion, and concern for nonhuman animals, people, and the environment. Despite its long history, however, few randomized control studies have evaluated its effectiveness to promote the development of relevant outcomes. The current study sought to address...

Key Words: EyeTrackerSystem, Children, Dogs, Visual processing.. Eye tracking technology can be a useful tool to explore how people process the images of animals, what parts of the animal conform generalized Areas of Interest (AOI) and if humans seek social information in the same areas as they do in human faces. In our experiment, we studied the...

No conflict of interest to declare. Public awareness of animal welfare continues to change dramatically. To further understand some of these changes, we administered an online survey about attitude toward companion animal welfare and Italian legislation concerning dog bites to 227 (149 women) participants. Answers used a 1 to 5 Likert scale (1=comp...

Behavioural problems are an important cause of dog relinquishment to shelters and of complaints after adoption. Entrance and stays in shelters can further alter dogs’ behaviours and enhance the probability of displaying behavioural problems. Nonetheless, data on the prevalence and characteristics of behavioural problems in dog shelters are sparse;...

Although animal-assisted interventions (AAIs)-including animal-assisted therapy (AATs), animal-assisted activities (AAAs), or animal-assisted learning (AALs)-have been reported to help rehabilitate criminal offenders, their use here is not well-studied. This exploratory study aims to gather information on AAIs in Italian correctional facilities. Tw...

Purpose This study is part of a follow up research (2004 – 2011). The original study was developed and implemented by researchers of Ghent University – Laboratory of Ethology (www.ethology.ugent.be). The aim of this study was to investigate whether nurses of Residential Psychiatric Units (RPUs) (West Flanders, Belgium) already involve animals into...

The effects of riding style and various management factors on the prevalence of stereotypies and other behavioural problems among 346 mixed-breed saddle horses (phase 1) and 101 Arabian horses (phase 2) were analysed through a questionnaire answered by owners. In phase 1, the questionnaire data were partially validated through 20-min observations o...

Introduction Recent scientific and public interest in dog aggression has led several governments to take action in an attempt to prevent such events, including through the use of behavioural tests, despite limited generalisation between contexts (Cristensen et al., 2007). Little research has been done to investigate the effects of the context on do...

Ergotherapie met assistentie van dieren. Therapie op maat of mythe? L. Meers, S. Molenberghs, F.O. Ödberg 1. Therapie met assistentie van dieren 2. Hulpverlening met dieren in Vlaanderen - situatieschets 2004-2009 3. Ergotherapie en dieren 4. Therapeutische meerwaarde 5. Besluit 1. Inleiding – Therapie met assistentie van dieren De laatste 20 ja...

The jumping stereotypy that voles develop when kept individually in barren cages, emancipates from causal factors between 4-6 months. This study investigates the effect of N-p-Isothiocyanatophenethyl Spiperone (NIPS), a D2-receptor blocker, on this behavior. NIPS is known to block D2-receptors during several days after administration, allowing brid...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of introduction and interruption of an Enhanced Human Interaction Program (EHIP) on shelter dogs’ behaviour and welfare and to apply a novel statistical method to analyse the behavioural data. Twenty-two dogs, which were never subjected to similar programs, were studied. The EHIP consisted of wal...

We address housing, refinements of husbandry, and some concerns regarding the use of parrots as laboratory animals. Because the duration of a project is most likely brief relative to the lifespan of the bird, among the most important goals is a well-established socialization program to maximize success of rehoming the birds after laboratory housing...

In 2004 Matoba and Coultis investigated attitudes about death in humans and pets, among 448 university students in Japan. Since pet ownership and interest in the human-animal bond are increasingly important in Japan, it was postulated that discussing the birth and death of other animals could be an entryway into discussing human birth and death. Fu...

Over the last twenty years, a growing number of clinics, health care facilities, educational settings, and riding stables in countries throughout the world have developed animal assisted intervention (AAIs) in which animals are employed to facilitate, augment, or even catalyse programmes that benefit a predetermined need of a group of people. Types...

Fourteen horses, aged 4 to 25 years, were studied. They were housed in the same yard and managed similarly. Four horses participated in ‘Animal Assisted Intervention’ programmes. All horses were subjected to two novel object tests (an umbrella, and a bright coloured rubber ball), a person approach test and two handling tests (the horse was led by a...

SUMMARY-A set of reactivity tests (including novel object, interaction with people, food withdrawal, handling, feet lifting and oral inspection) was carried out on 10 Arabian horses ridden by women and 10 ridden by men, in order to investigate whether being usually ridden by women or men could influence horse behaviour. Moreover a questionnaire was...

In Italy the law forbids euthanizing shelter dogs unless they are severely ill or dangerous. This has created a problem: many dogs are housed for long periods of time in shelters. It is important to the welfare of these dogs for us to find methods to increase successful adoption rates. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different m...

Because of welfare considerations, Belgian police horses are as of 1991 no longer sent to slaughter when they are retired. Instead, they are available for adoption, while remaining property of the Federal Police. Potential adopters are selected according to regulations. Volunteers should be able to provide horses with appropriate housing and manage...

‘Human Interaction Program’ (HIP) is an environmental enrichment program in which dogs are walked and petted (Hennessy et al., 1998). However, dogs may form attachment bonds to people after minimal contact and severing these bonds may cause great stress to the dogs (Gasci et al. 2001). We investigated whether a sudden interruption of the HIP would...

The aim of this study was to assess factors influencing owners' satisfactions with adopted shelter dogs, and whether a set of temperamental tests could predict post-adoption aggression problems. One hundred and nie dogs, 60 males and 49 females, aged 1 to 8 years, which were admitted at the same Italian shelter, were studied. They were tested upon...

Treatment of stereotypies in human and animal clinics is still empirical due to our incomplete understanding of underlying mechanisms. As a consequence, experimental studies in controlled laboratory conditions are necessary. Bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus), housed in barren laboratory cages, often develop stereotyped up-and-down jumping even b...

Programs involving ‘Animal Assisted Interventions’ (AAI) have recently expanded. These programs implement initiatives involving ‘Animal Assisted Therapy’ in which there are goals and progress records kept, ‘Animal Assisted Activities’ in which there aren’t precisely defined goals or ‘Animal Assisted Learning’ programs in which teachers have goals f...

For the past 20 years, a growing number of health care facilities, schools and riding stables have engaged in 'Animal Assisted Interventions' programs (AAI). These initiatives include 'Animal Assisted Therapy' in which client oriented goals are set and progress records are kept, 'Animal Assisted Activities' without specific goals for each client an...

This study investigated whether a foraging device, the Equiball, influenced the heart rate of 10 stallions (8-10 years), among which are two established wind-sucking horses. The ‘Equiball’ is a modified version of the ‘Edinburgh Foodball’ (British Patent No 9200499.3). It consists of an internal cylinder with a hole into which a suitable amount o...

A proposed form of environmental enrichment for kennelled dogs is increased human interaction (Wells and Hepper, 2000; Henessey et al., 2002). Interrupting human contact may produce adverse effects. Hennessy et al. (1998) demonstrated that human interaction help kennelled dogs cope with stress. Gasci et al. (2001) found that such dogs formed attach...

Prolonged exposure to various frustrating conditions can lead to stereotypic behaviour in horses (Redbo et al., 1998). Little is known about immediate triggers inducing stereotypic bouts. This study investigated whether some stimuli present in daily management might influence the frequency of stereotypic behaviour in horses. Twenty-one geldings (s...

A good match between dogs and potential adopters is important to promote adoptions and to decrease return rate. The aim of this study was to assess whether adopter's and dog's gender could influence adoption and return rate in normal and problem behaviour dogs. Data pertaining to 641 (300 females, 341 males) normal and 92 (44 females, 48 males) p...