First evidence for an association between joint hypermobility and excitability in a non-human species, the domestic dog

Bowen, Jonathan, Jaume Fatjó, James A. Serpell, Andrea Bulbena-Cabré, Eldin Leighton, and Antoni Bulbena. 2019. "First Evidence for an Association between Joint Hypermobility and Excitability in a Non-Human Species, the Domestic Dog." Scientific Reports 9 (1): 8629. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-45096-0.

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There is a well-established relationship between joint hypermobility and anxiety in humans, that has not previously been investigated in other species. A population of 5575 assistance dogs were scored for both hip hypermobility and 13 behaviour characteristics using previously validated methods. Our results suggest a positive association between hip joint hypermobility and emotional arousal in domestic dogs, which parallel results found in people.

© The Author(s) 2019. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).