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Study · Measured the body's own peptide · 2023

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Investigating Dog Welfare When Interacting with Autistic Children within Canine-Assisted Occupational Therapy Sessions: A Single Case Study.

Hill J, Driscoll C, Cawdell-Smith J, Anderson S, Ziviani J

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI12 Jun 2023Cited by 5 (Europe PMC)

PMID37370475 (opens in a new tab)PMCIDPMC10294977 (opens in a new tab)DOI10.3390/ani13121965 (opens in a new tab)PepBankPUB-37370475
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Summary

Human-animal bond is defined as the mutually beneficial relationship between humans and animals. Recent years have seen increasing research regarding the benefits of interaction with animals for autistic children. However, there continue to be limited studies exploring the impact of this interaction on the welfare of therapy dogs. As part of a pilot randomised control trial assessing the efficacy of canine-assisted occupational therapy with autistic children, this project assessed welfare markers of the therapy dog involved. A total of twenty-one saliva samples were taken from the therapy dog to assess cortisol, alpha amylase, and oxytocin concentrations at home and throughout the treatment days. Additionally, six hours of therapy session videos were analysed for stress indicators of canine behaviour. No significant differences were found between days spent at home and treatment days for any of the biomarkers or stress indicators. Results suggest that the therapy dog involved did not experience increased stress resulting from interaction with the autistic children throughout the therapy sessions. This study supports the need for further research regarding therapy dog welfare when interacting with autistic children including an increased sample size of therapy dogs and therapists.
CC BYText from Europe PMC. Highlighted sentences are the source of results.

Results from this study1

No result from this study comes from a test of the peptide.

Natural levels measured1

These results measure the body's own peptide. Nobody was given the peptide. They are not evidence about taking it. They are left out of key results, evidence counts and charts.

  1. 01AnimalEndogenous levelOther designOther

    In a therapy dog, salivary oxytocin did not differ between days at home and treatment days with autistic children.

    In plain wordsIn one therapy dog, the dog's own saliva oxytocin level did not differ between days at home and therapy days.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    No significant changeSalivary oxytocin concentration, home days versus treatment days
    Study

    dogn = 1

    Therapy dog (saliva samples)
    Comparator
    Home days
    Outcome group
    Endogenous peptide levels · Endocrine and hormones

    Source sentences

    Summary
    No significant differences were found between days spent at home and treatment days for any of the biomarkers or stress indicators.
    2 context sentences
    Title · context
    Investigating Dog Welfare When Interacting with Autistic Children within Canine-Assisted Occupational Therapy Sessions: A Single Case Study.
    Summary · context
    A total of twenty-one saliva samples were taken from the therapy dog to assess cortisol, alpha amylase, and oxytocin concentrations at home and throughout the treatment days.

    This result measures the body's own Oxytocin. Nobody was given the peptide. It is not evidence about taking it.

AI wrote and checked these results. AI can make mistakes, so check important results against the source.

Version history

PepBank keeps every version of the data on this study. Status changes from Retraction Watch, Europe PMC and Crossref are listed with their source.

  1. Version 2Current

    11 Oct 2026, 00:50 UTC

    Study results updated

  2. Version 1

    9 Oct 2026, 02:49 UTC

    First added · source update from Europe PMC

Subjects

Terms as the source lists them.

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