No evidence for detrimental effect of chemical castration on working ability in Swiss military dogs

Gfrerer, Nastassja; Taborsky, Michael; Würbel, Hanno (2019). No evidence for detrimental effect of chemical castration on working ability in Swiss military dogs. Applied animal behaviour science, 211, pp. 84-87. Elsevier 10.1016/j.applanim.2018.10.019

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Hormones influence the social behaviour of dogs. Castration of male dogs induces a reduction of testosterone and has been shown to affect social behaviours associated with aggression and reproduction. Changes in social
behaviour could be critical in working dogs, which should be well trainable and behave reliably. It is currently unknown whether and how castration may affect the working ability of dogs. Besides surgical castration, chemical castration using a hormonal implant offers a possibility to castrate dogs temporarily. In the present study, we chemically castrated male Swiss military dogs and assessed their working abilities in comparison to intact males in a standard behavioural test series for Swiss military dogs (obedience, protection of the handler against an attacker, search of a hidden person in a building, reaction to social environment during a city walk). Chemical castration in Swiss military dogs had no measurable effect on any of the test situations in comparison to intact males.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Research and Veterinary Public Health (DCR-VPH) > Veterinary Public Health Institute > Animal Welfare Division
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Research and Veterinary Public Health (DCR-VPH) > Veterinary Public Health Institute
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE)
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE) > Behavioural Ecology
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Clinical Research and Veterinary Public Health (DCR-VPH)
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE) > Conservation Biology

UniBE Contributor:

Gfrerer, Nastassja, Taborsky, Michael, Würbel, Hanno

Subjects:

300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology > 330 Economics
500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
500 Science > 590 Animals (Zoology)
600 Technology > 630 Agriculture

ISSN:

0168-1591

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Lilian Karin Smith-Wirth

Date Deposited:

26 Mar 2019 16:14

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:25

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.applanim.2018.10.019

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.125707

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/125707

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