Dogs experience both acute and chronic stress when living in animal shelters. Current best practices recommend a variety of techniques for reducing stress such as enhanced human interactions including play or training, novel feeding strategies, increased exercise/group play, and, when possible, group housing. Auditory stimulation in the form of bio-acoustically designed music has shown a stress-relieving effect in dogs experiencing chronic stress such as those living in a kennel. However, there is little research looking at the effect of visual stimulation on stress in shelter-living dogs. Using a two-group (treatment, control) experimental design, the current study examined the effect of auditory and visual content intended to reduce stress, measured by salivary cortisol and behavior, in shelter dogs. The content was delivered through an in-kennel pet videophone unit. Forty-seven dogs were enrolled at one shelter in the United States. While there were no significant differences in pre- and post-test salivary cortisol levels by experimental group (P > 0.05), dogs in the treatment group spent significantly less time in the back of the kennel (P = 0.046) than did dogs in the control group. In addition, two behaviors differed by experimental group at the P < 0.10 level: dogs in the treatment group spent more time grooming (P = 0.066) and less time walking (P = 0. 052) than did dogs in the control group. These results point to a promising area for future research as they suggest that, under certain conditions, auditory and visual enrichment delivered through an individual in-kennel device could be a useful adjunct to an existing enrichment and behavior protocol for shelter-housed dogs.

在动物收容所中生活时，狗会承受急性和慢性压力。当前的最佳实践推荐了多种减轻压力的技术，例如增强了人与人之间的互动，包括玩耍或训练，新颖的喂养策略，增加的运动/小组游戏以及在可能的情况下进行小组住宿。生物听觉设计音乐形式的听觉刺激已显示出对经历慢性压力的狗（例如生活在狗窝中的狗）具有缓解压力的作用。然而，很少有研究关注视觉刺激对居住在狗中的狗的压力的影响。通过两组（治疗，对照）实验设计，当前研究检查了听觉和视觉内容对减轻压力的影响，这些效果是通过唾液皮质醇和行为来衡量的，其目的是为了减轻庇护犬的压力。内容是通过狗窝内的宠物可视电话装置传递的。在美国的一个避难所招募了47只狗。虽然各实验组的测试前和测试后唾液皮质醇水平无显着差异（P > 0.05），治疗组的狗在狗窝后部的时间明显少于对照组（P = 0.046）。此外，在P <0.10的水平上，实验组的两种行为有所不同：治疗组的狗比对照组的狗花费更多的时间进行美容（P = 0.066）和行走的时间（P = 0.052）。这些结果表明，在某些条件下，通过单个犬舍设备传递的听觉和视觉充实可能是现有的针对庇护所的狗的充实和行为协议的有用辅助手段，它们有望在将来进行研究。