![]() ![]() Sleep has been identified as a promising indicator of welfare because it can be used as an index of adaptation to the environment. ), defined as “a state of immobility with greatly reduced responsiveness” (p. A little researched indicator is sleep behaviour (e.g. judgement bias test), all of which can vary in their efficacy and levels of invasiveness. the presence of behaviours associated with an increasing stress response, like panting) and cognitive measures (e.g. ![]() cortisol fluctuation), behavioural measures (e.g. Common welfare indicators include physiological measures (e.g. Therefore, the ability to assess dog welfare is important to design appropriate interventions. Exposure to unfamiliar surroundings or being separated from familiar people can be stressful for dogs and contribute to the experience of poor welfare. Over 130,000 dogs ( Canis lupus familiaris) enter animal shelters in the UK each year and nearly one third of the UK’s 10 million dog population have been in a shelter at some point. Considering the non-linear relationship between sleep and welfare in humans, the relationship between sleep and behavioural indicators of welfare, including judgement bias, in shelter dogs may be more complex than this study could detect. These results suggest that, in the context of a busy shelter environment, the ability to rest more during the day could be a sign of improved welfare. A higher proportion of daytime resting behaviour was significantly associated with a positive judgement bias, less repetitive behaviour and increased time spent coded as ‘relaxed’ across days by shelter staff. There were no statistically significant relationships between behaviours exhibited during the day and sleep behaviour. Shelter dogs slept for 2.8% of the day, 14.3% less than previously reported and experienced less sleep fragmentation at night (32 sleep bouts). Subsequently, the characteristics of sleep and resting behaviour were described and the impact of activity on patterns of sleep and resting behaviour analysed. Sleep and activity patterns were observed over five non-consecutive days in a population of 15 dogs. This study explored the use of sleep and resting behaviour as indicators of welfare by describing the activity patterns of dogs ( Canis lupus familiaris) housed in rescue shelters, and comparing their sleep patterns to other behavioural and cognitive measures of welfare. Previous research on humans and animals suggests that the analysis of sleep patterns may reliably inform us about welfare status, but little research of this kind has been carried out for non-human animals in an applied context. ![]()
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