Hund lämnad ensam i bil

Sammanfattning: This project was initiated by a desire to improve our knowledge about animal welfare. It is a part of a series of projects involving the way dogs are kept in today's society. The aim of this project was to investigate the dog's behaviour when left alone in a parked car. This was chosen because it has become more and more common that dogs are left in cars by their owners while working or doing other duties. Working dogs as police- or security dogs in particular often spend a lot of time in the car. Another aim with this project was to be able to give guidelines to the owners of this category of dogs, to give them a chance to improve these dogs working environment. The project consisted of a study of literature and an experimental part. In the experimental part both behaviour and heart rate was studied. The experimental study was performed in a public garage where the dog was held in the back of a car. Each dog was tested on four occasions and for two hours on each occasion. The dogs which participated in the experimental study were of the breeds German shepherd and Belgian shepherd-Malinois. In this study it was found that the dogs spent a lot of time sleeping when left alone in the car. The results also showed that the dogs preferred moderate activity around the car. The heart rate was significantly higher when there was very little or very high level of activity around the car. A high frequency of the heart rate can be a sign of stress. The study also showed that the dogs preferred to spend their time in the car in as large space as possible. In a small cage the dogs heart rate was significantly higher than in the larger cage. There are reasons to reconsider legislation when it comes to the confinement of larger dogs in cars. The legislation recommend a space that is 90cm long for a dog the same size as a German shepherd. All dogs in this study where longer than 90 cm between muzzle and hip bone. This means that the dogs in this study did not have the possibility to stretch out to their full length. Therefore the recommendations made in the legislation should be changed. If you have to leave the dog alone in the car you should give the dog as much space as possible. It is also important to park the car where there is moderate activity around the car.