The Faces of Salimetrics
Troy
Troy is a 5-year old German Shepherd dog. He comes from a breed known for their intelligence, drive and stamina. Troy’s breed also predisposes him to have utmost focus and discipline, which is important to his job. He works in Urban Search and Rescue.
Although Troy’s daily routine involves living with his handler at home, playing ball and watching TV with the kids, he also spends hours training and preparing for disaster situations. Following a severe earthquake, tornado, flood or landslide, Troy and his owner are deployed to search through the rubble of collapsed apartment buildings and homes for live victims. During these deployments, they may search for 12 hours at a time, in bad conditions, with very little success. It is a stressful time for both dog and handler.
One evening, after searching all day, Troy stepped onto a two by four that collapsed below him, dropping him several yards to the concrete rubble below. Although he was not physically injured, both Troy and his handler were shaken. They were replaced by the next team, and, after being carefully checked over by the vet on duty, they went to catch up on some well needed sleep. The next morning, Troy didn’t have any enthusiasm to go back on the pile. He didn’t even want to spend time with his handler or the other workers. Recognizing that Troy needed a break, they set up some games of hide and seek (Troy’s favorite game) with some off-duty searchers, but he just lay in a corner. He even refused to chase his ball and play tug, two of his other favorite pastimes.
Troy did not work for the remainder of the deployment and visited a veterinary behaviorist when he returned home. While the veterinarian could find nothing physically wrong with Troy, she diagnosed him as suffering from a post-traumatic-distress type disorder and he was taken out of commission from the USAR team until he had undergone treatment and again found enjoyment in his work.
Veterinary medical researchers believe that certain biomarkers can predict whether or not dogs like Troy will become “stressed out”. If they can verify their research, first responders will be able to determine if dogs are up to the rescue job before they purchase and train them. And, ultimately, they can save more lives. Our saliva tests have been successfully employed in studies to measure the psychobiology of the stress response in rescue dogs as well as dogs who have specific anxieties (i.e., thunderstorms). Perhaps in the future, these non-invasive tests will help improve the lives of working animals like these special dogs.
Other uses of salivary cortisol in working dogs:
- Determining what kenneling conditions are best (singly housed vs. multi-housed vs. housed in a home; using toys-environmental enrichment; what type of bedding works best, etc.).
- Determining what training techniques are most effective.
- Seeing how long it takes dogs to acclimate to changes in temperature, environment, etc. when they are deployed.
