Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Dog training and testing on bears (Ursus arctos) occurs both on bears in the wild and bears in
enclosures. In Sweden the main way of hunting bears is with dogs and the main cause of death of
bears in Sweden is due to legal hunting. Today, to my knowledge, no research has been done on
how bears in enclosures are affected by dog training. The aims of the present study were to
investigate if bears show any behavioural signs of stress during dog training, if the training can be
considered as enriching for the bears and if the bears’ behavioural response alters with the number
of training episodes during the day and between training days.
During dog training the bears at this training facility were kept in a test enclosure connected to
their main enclosure. The bears were exposed to one dog at a time which is allowed to roam freely
outside the test enclosure and bay and bark at the bears. Results showed that the bears’ response to
dog training differs between individuals and that the dog training could be perceived as stressful for
the bears. The bears displayed natural behaviours such as exploring and social interactions on all
days of training, where social interactions mainly consisted of body contact.
Behaviours related to stress such as charging towards the dog and moving away from the dog
were shown by all individuals and pacing was exhibited by one of the bears. Social interactions such
as playing was shown by two individuals once, but other behavioural responses did not indicate the
dog training as a positive experience or as enriching for the bears. The behavioural response differed
between number of practices and individuals but could not distinguish any behavioural patterns in
the group. One of the bears showed pacing behaviour on the fourth training occasion of the day and
two bears showed charging towards dog on the first observation of the day. This indicates that there
are individual differences between the bears at this training facility.
In conclusion, this study provided a picture of bears behavioural responses during dog training.
Some of these behaviours were consistent with stress. Results from more comprehensive
behavioural studies, completed with physiological data, would provide additional information on
the welfare of these bears.