Abstract

Efforts to counteract age-related decline have resulted in the emergence of various interventions. However, everyday benefits are rarely reported in elderly people. Dogs provide an excellent model for studying aging and interventions due to their similarities to humans. Our aim was to investigate whether a combined physical and cognitive intervention (most effective in humans) could enhance the performance of pet dogs and lead to far transfer effects (improvement in not just the trained specific task). We examined the impact of three-month-long intervention therapies (cognitive, physical, combined) on the cognitive performance and behaviour of old, healthy dogs (N = 72; aged 7.68–14.54 years) using a 12-subtest behavioural test battery. We did not find the combined intervention group outperforming either the cognitive-only or physical-only therapy groups. Physical interventions, either alone or in combination, improved dogs' behavioural flexibility and social behaviour. Cognitive interventions, either alone or in combination, increased neophilia. Furthermore, all intervention therapies made dogs more engaged with their environment. Moreover, less old, around eight years old dogs, exhibited improved social behaviour, problem solving ability, and increased neophilia by their second test occasion. Additionally, dogs' performance was influenced by their health, training, daily play with the owner, and activity/excitability traits. In sum, both cognitive and physical intervention therapies can have an impact on the behaviour of old, healthy pet dogs. However, these therapies may be more effective when longer or applied at a younger age, as the healthy older dogs were less likely to show improvement.

中文翻译：

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短期认知和物理干预疗法对老年犬的行为影响

摘要

为了对抗与年龄相关的衰退，各种干预措施应运而生。然而，很少报道老年人的日常益处。由于狗与人类相似，因此为研究衰老和干预措施提供了一个极好的模型。我们的目的是调查身体和认知联合干预（对人类最有效）是否可以提高宠物狗的表现并导致远转移效应（不仅仅是训练的特定任务的改善）。我们使用 12 个子测试行为测试组，研究了为期三个月的干预疗法（认知、身体、综合）对老年健康狗（N = 72；年龄 7.68-14.54 岁）认知表现和行为的影响。我们没有发现联合干预组的表现优于纯认知治疗组或纯物理治疗组。物理干预，无论是单独还是组合，都可以改善狗的行为灵活性和社会行为。认知干预，无论是单独的还是组合的，都会增加新恋情。此外，所有干预疗法都使狗更加融入环境。此外，年龄较小（大约八岁）的狗在第二次测试时表现出改善的社交行为、解决问题的能力以及增加的新恋情。此外，狗的表现还受到其健康、训练、与主人的日常玩耍以及活动/兴奋性特征的影响。总之，认知和物理干预疗法都会对年老健康宠物狗的行为产生影响。然而，这些疗法在时间较长或年龄较小时可能会更有效，因为健康的老年狗不太可能表现出改善。