The effects of fear and anxiety on health and lifespan in pet dogs

Abstract Fear and anxiety-related behaviors are common in pet dogs and are likely to cause a physiological stress response in individuals that are exposed to those things they find fear or anxiety-inducing. Stress responses are related to a number of changes in hormonal and immune modulation and have been shown in many species to be related to disease processes and shortened lifespan. It was predicted that dogs with fear and anxiety disorders would have decreased lifespan and increased disease frequency and severity. In this retrospective study, owners of 721 deceased dogs completed a 99 question on-line survey that asked about the demographics, training, behavioral characteristics, health history, age at and cause of death in their pets. Correlational and regression analyses were performed to explore relationships between behavior; fear and anxiety subscales; lifespan; and specific diseases and causes of death. Results show that how "well-behaved" an owner felt their dog was positively correlated with lifespan ( R 2 =0.18, P R 2 =0.03, P R 2 =0.16, P