Effects of intranasal oxytocin on gazing at the human face in Retrievers dogs

DZIK, MARINA VICTORIA; BENTOSELA, MARIANA; CAVALLI, CAMILA MARÍA; BARRERA, GABRIELA

Lisboa

Congreso; 7th Canine Science Forum; 2021

Canine Science Forum

Introduction. Oxytocin (OT) is a hormone involved in dog-human interactions. In a prior study, OT administration increased gazing at the human face in mixed breed pet and shelter dogs during a task where food was out of reach. However, in studies featuring other protocols, this hormone has been reported to have differential effects according to the dogs? breed.Question. The aim was to evaluate the effects of intranasal administration of OT on gazing to the human face when food was out of reach in Retriever dog breeds, which are popular and have been selected for cooperative work with humans. Method. We assessed 38 pet dogs (20 Golden and 18 Labrador Retrievers). All were adults, 22 males and 16 females,17 neutered and 21 gonadally intact. The dogs received either 16 IU of OT (N=18) or saline (N=20) 40 min before the task, which comprised three phases: 1) Acquisition (3 trials): dogs were given food each time they gazed at the human face, 2) Extinction (3 trials): gazing was not reinforced, 3) Reacquisition (1 trial): gazing was reinforced again. Each trial lasted 2 min. We analyzed the effects of treatment, phase, breed, testing place, sex, and neutered status on gaze duration (s) using Generalized Linear Mixed Models.Results. We found that phase significantly affected gaze (F(2,4)=64.66, p=.001) as dogs gazed longer during extinction compared to the acquisition and reacquisition phases. In addition, we observed a treatment x neutered status interaction (F(1,28)=4.82, p=.037), OT increased gaze duration compared to saline in gonadally intact dogs.