Quote:The research compared abandoned dogs rescued from Fukushima with non-disaster affected dogs abandoned in 2009 and 2010, before the earthquake. The dogs that lived through the disaster had stress hormone levels five to 10 times higher than the dogs that were simply abandoned or found as strays. Source
They compared how the dogs hormones reacted with unfamiliar people. They also took into account who between the Kanagawa and Fukushima dogs were more difficult to train and were less attached to their caregivers.
They found out that the cortisol level of dogs that were affected by the disaster were 10 times higher (even after being taken care/rehabilitated for 10 weeks).
That's an interesting study that was conducted here. I guess it would stand to reason that dogs who have been through traumatic experiences would have a higher stress level then dogs who haven't. I know there are those who think that dogs aren't affected by such things, but their wrong. From what I have witnessed with my own dogs, they are very sensitive to what is going on around them and are deeply affected.
You can generally tell if your dog has a stressful nature or not. I'm not quite sure if it depends on the breed. For example, my family has had three dogs. Two were Dachshunds and one is a Labrador Retriever. The Dachshunds were very nervous dogs. They'd get excited and upset easily. One of them was cranky and the other was just crazy. I would say they were both very stressed out and kind of all over the place. However, our Lab is not like them at all. She is very calm and relaxed. She is super friendly and loving. She wags her tail most of the time. You can tell that she is a relaxed dog and not stressed out. Sure, dogs go through certain periods of stress. We took one of our Dachshunds to a kennel when we went on vacation and had to come pick him up. While we never took our Lab to one, I don't think she would have acted the same as he did.
That is a really interesting article. I'm not sure if you've ever been through a natural disaster. I went through the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. Not nearly as devastating as Japan's earthquake, but it caused some damage and lives were lost. I can remember that for months after everyone was still a little jumpy and stunned. The psychological affect and the emotional impact is something you don't expect.
Knowing how it feels from a human's perspective, it doesn't surprise me that dogs would also feel higher stress afterward. Not only would they be stressed out because of the earthquake and after shocks, but they would also be reacting to their human family members. Many families were displaced, so one could see how unsettling that would be for the dogs as well.
