Development of a non-invasive polysomnography technique for dogs (Canis familiaris)

Kis, Anna and Szakadát, Sára and Kovács, Enikő and Gácsi, Márta and Simor, Péter and Gombos, Ferenc and Topál, József and Miklósi, Ádám and Bódizs, Róbert (2014) Development of a non-invasive polysomnography technique for dogs (Canis familiaris). Physiology and Behavior, 130. pp. 149-156. ISSN 0031-9384

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Abstract

Recently dogs (Canis familiaris) have been demonstrated to be a promising model species for studying human behavior as they have adapted to the human niche and developed human-like socio-cognitive skills. Research on dog behavior, however, has so far almost exclusively focused on awake functioning. Here we present a self-developed non-invasive easily replicable canine polysomnography method. N=22 adult pet dogs (with their owners present) and N=12 adult humans participated in Study I. From these subjects N=7 dogs returned on two more occasions for Study II. In Study I. we give a descriptive analysis of the sleep electroencephalogram of the dog and compare it to human data. In order to validate our canine polysomnography method in Study II. we compare the sleep macrostructure and the EEG spectrum of dogs after a behaviorally active versus passive day. In Study I. we found that dogsʼ sleep EEG resembled that of human subjects and was generally in accordance with previous literature using invasive technology. In Study II. we show that similarly to previous results on humans daytime load of novel experiences affects the macrostructural and spectral aspects of subsequent sleep. Our results validate the family dog as a model species for studying the effects of pre-sleep activities on the EEG pattern under natural conditions and thus broaden the perspectives of the rapidly growing fields of canine cognition and sleep research.

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