New ethical guidelines aim to protect dogs in human–canine interaction research, emphasising screening, stress monitoring, and respect for dogs as participants.
As human–canine interaction (HCI) research continues to expand, questions about the welfare of participating dogs remain critically underexplored. A new study by Sidel et al. (2025), published in Animals, addresses this gap by proposing clear guidelines for recognising and mitigating stress in dogs involved in psychological experiments with humans.
The study introduces a structured protocol used during a controlled stress test in which dogs accompanied their owners, who were subjected to a challenging human task. Dogs were pre-screened for temperament, placed in comfortable environments with access to water and beds, and monitored closely for signs of fear and anxiety using a validated behavioural scale.
Remarkably, most dogs showed low levels of stress, and only two were withdrawn from the study for welfare reasons. The authors advocate for the inclusion of stress-monitoring procedures, ethical researcher training, and an HCI protocol that treats dogs as active participants, not experimental props. Their framework may set a new standard for animal welfare in behavioural research, ensuring that scientific progress never comes at the expense of canine well-being.
Published in Animals, June 2025
