Preliminary study comparing dogs’ responses to travel in electric cars

Abstract

Many pet dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) will travel in a car at some point in their life, which can be stressful and lead to a range of potentially problematic responses. Electric vehicles are noticeably quieter than ones with internal combustion engines but there are no studies on their effect on dogs. Therefore, the aim of this study was to undertake a preliminary examination using a mixed methods approach to identify potential issues worthy of further investigation by comparing the dog’s behavioural and physiological (heart rate) responses when travelling in these two types of car. 20 dogs undertook the same ~10 minute journey twice, once in each of the vehicles. As a pilot study, we focus primarily on reporting qualitative evaluations of results and effect sizes, with statistical significance references given where apparent. The behaviour of dogs seemed to be affected by the type of vehicle that they travelled in, with dogs appearing to be behaviourally more restless in the diesel vehicle than the electric one, indicated by shorter bouts of lying relaxed and alert. In a clinical assessment of individual dogs, we noted that two dogs appearing to suffer from nausea seemed to show potential improvements associated with travel in the electric vehicle.