Owner-Perception of the Effects of Two Long-Lasting Dog-Appeasing Pheromone Analog Devices on Situational Stress in Dogs

• Published in: Animals (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 122
• Main Authors: Nicolas, Céline S, Espuña, Gemma, Girardin, Aurélie, Fatjó, Jaume, Bowen, Jonathan, Monginoux, Patricia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 05-01-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Antiparasitic agents; Anxiety; appeasing pheromone; Behavior; Behavior rating scales; Collars; Diffusers; Dogs; dog’s behavior; Fear; long-lasting collar; Noise; Pheromones; Questionnaires; relaxing; Signs; Statistical analysis; Stress; Zenidog; United Kingdom > UK; France; stress; signs of stress; diffusing gel; relaxing; dog’s behavior; sources of fear; appeasing pheromone; behavioral scales; long-lasting collar; Zenidog
• ISSN: 2076-2615; 2076-2615
• DOI: 10.3390/ani12010122

Devices that release a synthetic analog of the canine-appeasing pheromone can help to relax dogs during stressful situations, but they usually last for only one month. Two new devices with this analog were tested by owners of dogs showing signs of stress in a range of everyday situations: Zenidog™ collar, lasting three months, and Zenidog™ diffusing gel, lasting two months (Virbac, Carros, France). They were compared against reference products that last for one month. In the three-month study with collars, one group received Zenidog™ collar, one received the reference collar, and one group of dogs wore an antiparasitic collar alongside a Zenidog™ collar. In the two-month study with diffusers, groups received either the unpowered Zenidog™ gel diffuser or the reference electric diffuser. Owners regularly completed a questionnaire that assessed seventeen general behaviors and sources of fear and eleven specific signs of stress. Global scores for these two main scales were calculated, and the evolution of scores was compared between groups. Non-parametric tests with a Bonferroni correction were used for statistical analysis. An improvement of all global scores was observed in all groups (
< 0.001), including in puppies, and there was no difference between groups. Zenidog™ devices were as effective as the reference devices and lasted longer.