Nottingham Trent study suggests dog owners are missing these signs their pet is in pain

Nottingham Trent University has conducted a study to test whether dog owners could easily identify signs of pain in their pets.

The results revealed that many were unable to spot the more subtle signs with participants able to recognise basic animal emotions, such as happiness and fear. However, they struggled to identity more complex emotions like anxiety and frustration.

Jacqueline Boyd, Senior Lecturer of Animal Science at Nottingham Trent, said: “It is easy to assume that an animal in pain will make some noise about it and show obvious physical sings. This might be the case if they are in acute pain as the result of sever injury for example. However, animals often disguise pain as a survival mechanism, and many signs of pain show only as subtle changes in behaviour”

She explained people are able to recognise basic animal emotional states like anger or fear through facial and body expressions, but struggle to link the questions to more complex emotional states.

via Unsplash

During the study, participants completed two tasks. For one, they were asked to rank 17 types of dog behaviour on how likely it was that they indicate pain. Unknown to participants, all 17 indicated pain.

The more obvious changes in behaviour were spotted, such as paw lifting, but the less obvious ones went unnoticed. Significantly, those without dogs better at spotting lesser known signs.

Most Read

Ranked: All 24 Russell Group universities by how terrifying their financial deficits are

The Boys’ Karl Urban likes brutal post dragging season five as viewers say it ‘doesn’t make sense’

Worst Ex Ever: Varya Malina shares shocking update on 90 Day Fiancé partner Geoffrey Paschel

Jacqueline said, “Participants were good at recognising these prominent behaviour changes were linked with pain. However, they didn’t realise more subtle indicators such as yawning, lip and nose licking and changes in facial expression including looking away and increased blinking. These are all warning that a dog may be suffering.

“Notably, participants without dogs were actually more likely to recognise that freezing or turning the head or body away are associate with pain than dog owners. This suggests that dog owners may become complacent in their observations of their dog’s behaviour.”

via Unsplash

Participants were also asked to access the relevance of pain in three written canine behaviour tests, but were not told that two were suffering from painful conditions, one obvious, the other more subtle. The third case was not linked to a painful condition.

In April, PLOS One identified 17 signs that your pup is in pain, so owners can be on the lookout. This included 14 subtle signs such as changes in personality, fluctuating mood and reduced play, and more obvious signs, such as hesitant paw lifting and changes in movement.

For more of the latest news, guides, gossip and memes, follow The Nottingham Tab on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.

Featured image via Unsplash