Results

The Unsolvable Problem Task

Control dogs were in significantly less experimenter proximity compared to rehomed dogs and shelter dogs (Figure 1). The results also shows that shelter dogs spent significantly less time having eye contact with the owner (caretaker) compared to control dogs (Figure 2).

Figure 1. Boxplot of the duration of a experimenter proximity (s) in the Unsolvable Problem Task for the control dogs (red), rehomed dogs (orange), and shelter dogs (yellow).
Figure 2. Boxplots of the owner eye contact duration (s) during the Unsolvable Problem Task for control dogs (red), rehomed dogs (orange), and shelter dogs (yellow).
Memory test

No significant difference between groups was found in the memory test.

Eye contact test

The results of the eye contact test showed that shelter dogs maintained eye contact for a significantly shorter amount of time compared to both control and rehomed dogs (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Box plots for eye contact duration (s) during the eye contact test for control dogs (red), rehomed dogs (orange) and shelter dogs (yellow).
Sleep patterns and hair cortisol

The measures of hair cortisol concentrations showed that rehomed dogs had significantly lower concentrations compared to shelter dogs (Figure 4). No significant differences were found in sleep patterns.

Figure 4. Boxplot of the hair cortisol concentrations (pg/mg) for control dogs (red), rehomed dogs (orange) and shelter dogs (yellow).