title: Can DAVE (Dog-Assisted Virtual Environment) be used in the assessment of human behaviour towards dogs?
Creators: name: Oxley, James
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2024

description: Despite the popularity of pet dogs and their broad benefits to humans, there are also disadvantages of human-dog interactions, such as human-directed dog aggression potentially resulting in injury or death and/or psychological distress. Such incidents may also impact the welfare of dogs as they may be punished, rehomed, abandoned, seized or euthanised. While there are many contributing factors leading to dog bites, little research to date has explored human behaviour in the presence of dogs displaying aggressive behaviour, due to the ethical and practical implications of conducting such research in real life scenarios.
To address this, a virtual reality (VR) dog model was developed by VR and animation experts at the Virtual Engineering Centre UK, with input from qualified dog behaviourists. DAVE (Dog-Assisted Virtual Environment) was developed to display “aggressive” and non-reactive behaviours. The “aggressive” behaviour was based on the Canine Ladder of Aggression model. The size, colour, environment and audio of the dog could be modified and an indoor (house) and outdoor (park) environment was available. Both the VR dog model (VR tasks) and videos of the virtual dog model (online survey) were used to assess human behaviour and their ability to interpret dog behaviour. This included evaluating differences in participant approach-stop distance around the two different virtual dogs, varying colour, size, environment, audio and participant characteristics. In addition, DAVE was used to assess the effectiveness of veterinary student training in animal behaviour and handling.
Participants were able to use the VR equipment with limited instructions needed and user responses indicated that there was no evidence of simulator sickness during the VR tasks. Presence scores were rated as high demonstrating evidence of suitable immersion in the virtual environment. Participants regarded the dog models behaviour and appearance to be similar to that of a real dog, whether in VR or watching videos. Participants moved closer to the non-reactive dog model compared to the aggressive dog model. Participants also moved closer to the dog model if they were male, had less experience with dogs or if the size of dog was small. Whereas there was no evidence of a difference in how close participants got to the medium sized, yellow dog model displaying aggressive behaviour when comparing audio (presence versus absence) or environment type (indoor versus outdoor). There was no evidence of a difference in approach-stop distance based on coat colour (yellow and black). Participants most frequently blamed themselves or the owners for the dog’s behaviour and rarely the dog, similar to real-life scenarios. Veterinary students moved closer to the virtual dog before their teaching and training sessions than after.
This research demonstrates that DAVE can be used to assess aspects of human behaviour in the presence of a virtual dog model and provides further insight into human interpretation of specific dog behaviour signals which may aid in dog bite prevention education and training. Given that this is the first model of its kind, based on expert feedback and a theoretical dog behaviour model, these results are encouraging and highlight the need for future work with a broader range of participants, particularly those that are at a higher risk of dog bites.