With a growing number of dogs abandoned, living in shelters, and being rehomed, it is important to distinguish behavioural responses due to stress in our domestic companions. Cortisol is involved in the stress responses in animals which generally enters the individual’s body into a “state of emergency”. Prolonged stress can lead to exhaustion, disease, and death. Chronic stress can be detected by evaluating cortisol concentration in hair. Most domesticated dogs respond well to hair collection, thus avoiding further stressors. The method is simple, relatively inexpensive, and non-invasive. Our experiment focused on assessing multiple parameters using a modified Canine Behavioural Assessment and Research Questionnaire to evaluate their significance with cortisol in hair samples from a diverse range of dogs. Each stress parameter was tested against cortisol concentration using a t-Test, i. e., the Paired Two Sample for Means. The effect of weight on cortisol levels was statistically significant (P = 0.03). This fact revealed that an increase in body weight correlated with an increase in cortisol levels.

Abstract Every year, police horses undergo police training focused on passing difficult obstacles, during which their physical and mental abilities are tested. Using a method of eye movement monitoring, specifically eye blinking and eyelid twitching, we estimated if the training of horses was stressful. The results we found suggested that the training itself, per se does not affect the welfare of police horses; as it is not stressful for them because the gradual training allows the horses to adapt to different types of work or physical activity.

The aim of the study was to investigate the key factors influencing the successful adoption of dogs from dog shelters in Slovakia. The study covered the following factors in relation to individual dogs: time spent at the shelter, age, body weight, sex, coat color, length of the coat, and behavior (specifically intraspecific aggression, aggression toward humans, activity, and fear-related behavior). The survey was conducted in three shelters in the territory of the Slovak Republic. The online and on-site questionnaires of about 162 successfully adopted dogs were collected and were filled in by the shelter staff, those who accepted dogs into the shelter. Non-parametric statistics (Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis H test followed by Dunn's multiple comparisons test with correction) confirmed that the most important factors influencing the decision-making process of potential adopters were the age of the dog and its weight. However, we found that the length or color of the coat and sex had no effect on early adoption. While behavior is important during the prospective adopter/owner's interaction with the dog, it is still not the most important criterion in making a decision.

Cortisol, which is produced in the adrenal glands, is an endogenous glucocorticoid hormone that delivers its hormonal message to cells by acting on glucocorticoid receptors. It is one of the main stress hormones responsible for stress responses in animals and humans, and its overproduction is characteristic of certain diseases. While acute stress disorder can be evaluated by means of measuring the cortisol concentration in blood and urine, chronic stress disorder can be detected by monitoring the cortisol concentration in fur or hair. Hair collection is simple, inexpensive and non-invasive, and can be performed easily and rapidly; thus, it appears to be a suitable method for determining the level of stress in dogs from shelters, abused dogs or dogs involved in different types of animal interactions. Since it is a relatively new method, monitoring cortisol in hair or fur requires further research in order to definitively prove its efficacy, and possibly to determine reference range values for different breeds of dogs.

The aim of this study was to detect the k232a polymorphism in acyl-Coa:diacylglycerol acyltranferase-1 gene (DGa T1) in the Holstein and Slovak spotted breeds in Slovakia using improved primers and high-throughput microchip electrophoresis (MCe). Samples of 87 animals from the Holstein breed and 42 animals from the Slovak spotted breed were genotyped for DGAT1 K232A polymorphism (a and k alleles) using the PCR-RFLP technique. We observed a clear resolution of three different genotypes following fast, automated analysis of PCR products by microchip electrophoresis. The Holstein breed showed the frequencies 0.8621 for the a allele and 0.1379 for the k allele. Most animals were aa homozygotes (frequency 0.7356) or ak heterozygotes (frequency 0.2529). We found only one kk homozygote (0.0115) in the tested sample. The observed frequency of the allele k in the tested herd of Slovak Holstein is lower than reported for this breed in other countries. The genotyping data regarding k232a polymorphism in the Slovak spotted breed showed even lower frequency of the allele k (0.0476) than in the Holstein breed. The Chi-square test found a deviation from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium of the DGAT1 K232A genotypic frequencies for Holstein and Slovak spotted breeds. This disequilibrium could be related either to the sampling of the genotyped animals or can be a result of selection for the milk production. our results could be used to guide further association studies between this locus and milk traits in these breeds.