With all the excitement of Saturday’s Big Adopt Out which successfully
rehomed 129 dogs, calming pheromones were needed to ensure the happiness of the 300 dogs present
at the event.
Over 30 animal rescue groups gathered at the Brisbane Show Grounds for a day
of dog adoption, education and family activities including live music and guest
speakers as well as a jumping castle.
...
Managing director of the Queensland RSPCA, Sheila Collecott, says that a
synthetic pheromone was applied to the bandannas or collars of the dogs at the
event in a effort to keep the dogs calm in an exciting environment.
“A lot of the dogs here, you’ll see them wearing bandanas so we’ve actually
put a pheromone on the bandanas to help them relax a bit.
“For some dogs it makes a big difference, for some dogs it doesn’t,” she
said.
The synthetic pheromone is commercially available from the company
Ceva in the forms of sprays, collars and defusers.
Ceva representative Shonaugh Briscoe says the chemical used was a synthetic version of a pheromone that occurs naturally in female dogs.
“It’s a replica of a pheromone that’s produced by dogs in nature.
“In a natural situation when a female dog has puppies, a few days after
giving birth to the puppies, while she’s lactating she starts to secrete this
pheromone from around her belly area.
That pheromone is designed to calm the puppies and help them to feel relaxed
and reassured around their mother and Ceva has managed to create a synthetic
replica of that pheromone,” she said.
The use of pheromones was one of many strategies employed by the RSPCA to
ensure the wellbeing of the dogs, most of which are not used to the large groups
of people attending Saturday’s event, says Collecott.
“It can be stressful for the animals but that’s why we’ve got handlers with
all the animals so that they can work with the animals and constantly be doing
reinforcement and trying to keep them calm.
“Also by having people next to them, they’re not in crates. It’s like having
their owner next to them so they’re a lot more comfortable with that but a lot of
the dogs are not used to this amount of people so it can be stressful for them,”
she said.
This was the second year for the RSPCA’s Big Adopt Out which was modelled
after an event run by American rescue organisation
Best Friends, says Collecott.
The event is one of many run by the RSPCA throughout the year to raise
awareness and to prompt companion seekers to adopt rather than buy from breeders.
Dog abandonment is a big problem in Queensland and throughout Australia with
upwards of 40,000 dogs being received by the RSPCA each year.
Fortunately figures are showing that dog abandonment and surrender are on a downward trend.
See
here for a list of dog rescue centres in Brisbane and surrounding areas.
