Intranasal oxytocin studies on dogs might not be double-blind

Kis, Anna and Bolló, Henrietta and Gergely, Anna and Topál, József (2022) Intranasal oxytocin studies on dogs might not be double-blind. APPLIED ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR SCIENCE, 253. No. 105681. ISSN 0168-1591

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Abstract

A single dose of intranasal oxytocin has been shown to affect family dogs’ behaviour across a series of social tasks and situations. These studies have all been conducted using a double-blind placebo controlled design, which is the gold-standard in the field of drug-effect research. However, it has not been investigated whether intranasal oxytocin studies in dogs are truly double-blind, meaning that participants are indeed unaware of the treatment(s) dogs have received. Here we used unpublished data from three already published studies assessing the effects of intranasal oxytocin (compared to placebo) administration on dogs’ behaviour. Owners in these studies were asked in the end to make a guess about the treatment received, which is analysed in the present paper. Results show that in two out of the three datasets owners were above chance with their guesses when dogs had received placebo treatment; and in one out of the three datasets they were also overall significantly above chance when looking at data from both the oxytocin and placebo groups. Owners’ guesses were not related to dogs’ performance in the variables measured in any of the three behavioural tasks. These results clearly indicate that caution should be taken regarding the blindness of intranasal oxytocin experiments in dogs. However, we also conclude that the previously reported oxytocin effects on dogs’ behaviour (at least in these three studies) were not caused by the owners’ beliefs.

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