Dog's Life Project

What is the purpose of the study?

Animal welfare is assumed to be influenced by the cumulative effects of the positive and negative events experienced by an individual. Measuring stress is the main mechanism to evaluate welfare. Nowadays the methods used to assess stress are not available to everyone or are invasive, with that in mind a good measure of cumulative experience needs to be validated for animals. We believe that the way a dog looks can be related to his welfare and health. We aim to investigate if the used methods to assess stress are related with a dog’s perceived age.
This research poses several questions. It will:

1. Test the different methods to assess dog stress.
2. Investigate how a dog’s perceived age can be a predictor of their welfare.
3. Look at how changes in a dog’s routine, such as play and walks, can reverse negative experiences effects.
   I will be more than happy to provide you with more information regarding each question. You are encouraged to take part in all.

Who are these dogs?

The pictures were taken from shelter, military, laboratory, rehome and pet dogs.

What if I don't know the dog’s age?

There is no pressure on getting the age right, we know that is hard to guess ages. Sometimes the picture is blurry or the dog is not looking straight to the camera. We still ask you to try to guess because your best guesses, even when they are not always right, give us information on features used for ageing. By examining answers from multiple people on each of these photos we narrow down the possibilities for each photo.

Other questions

If you have other questions about the project head over to the talk forum and talk to us.