Measuring Behavior 2005: Wust et al.

The use of actometer in training of rescue dogs

C. Wust, M. Schneider and M. Erhard

Institut of Animal Welfare, Ethology and Animal Hygiene, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

Actometers have been used in the human medical field over the past years in several different categories. They were used e.g. for monitoring patients suffering from sleep disturbances or Parkinson’s Disease. Aim of the study was to test and establish the actometer during training of rescue dogs.

19 rescue dogs of different ages participated in the study. Each dog performed five exercise courses on two different types of ground (three alpine rubble searches, two area searches) with identical test procedures (20 min rest, 2 x 20 min search with 20 min break in between, 60 min recovery).

During the tests, the dogs were wearing an actometer of Somnomedics which was integrated in a collar for continued recording of the activity. At the same time, a monitoring device of Polar continually recorded the heart rate. Subsequently, the activity in combination with the heart rate in time-relationship was analyzed.

A significant difference depending on the type of ground could be observed. Additionally, a decrease in activity during the 20 min search and between the two 20 min searches could be measured. Initially heart rate increased significantly during search and then adjusted to an individual optimal performance level. During rest the activity of each dog could be monitored objectively and consistently by actometer. Combining the data of actometer measurements and heart rate the dogs could be classi.ed into ‘calm’ and ‘non-calm’ categories without great expenditure of time.

The study showed that actometers are suitable for an objective measurement of the intensity of activity in rescue dogs. In combination with a continuous heart rate monitoring, we found an objective method to measure strain of rescue dogs during training.

Paper presented at Measuring Behavior 2005 , 5^th International Conference on Methods and Techniques in Behavioral Research, 30 August - 2 September 2005, Wageningen, The Netherlands.