{"doi":"10.3390/ani12233379","title":"The Effect of Transportation on Puppy Welfare from Commercial Breeding Kennels to a Distributor","abstract":"Many puppies from commercial breeding kennels (CBKs) are transported by ground from their kennels of origin to a distributor. This experience may elicit fear and stress during a sensitive developmental period, which may in turn negatively impact the puppies’ short- and long-term welfare. This study aimed to measure short-term effects of transportation on puppy welfare metrics. Eight-week-old puppies (n = 383) from 12 CBKs were tested at their kennels (pre-trans) and ~48 h after arriving at a distributor (post-trans). At each location, puppies underwent an isolation test, a stranger-approach test, and a physical health assessment. Behavioral responses to testing were scored from videos. Fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGM), fecal secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA), and presence of intestinal parasites were also analyzed. Linear mixed-effects models identified decreased exploration (p < 0.001), and increased locomotion (p < 0.001) and escape attempts (p = 0.001) during the post-trans isolation test. Increased affiliative behavior (p < 0.001), FGM (p < 0.001) and sIgA (p = 0.014) were also observed post-trans. Findings support good physical health both pre- and post-trans, while behavioral and physiological changes suggest increased puppy distress post-trans. Higher post-transport affiliative behavior may indicate that puppies sought social support as a coping strategy after experiencing transport-related distress. Future studies should explore the efficacy of transportation-related interventions to mitigate puppy distress.","journal":"Animals","year":2022,"id":278324,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":7,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9585,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":950437,"name":"Alessia Diana","orcid":"0000-0002-8571-1295","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":950438,"name":"Shanis Barnard","orcid":"0000-0001-9521-8122","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":950857,"name":"Jennifer E. Weller","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":950858,"name":"Uri Baqueiro Espinosa","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":950439,"name":"Sriveny Dangoudoubiyam","orcid":"0000-0002-9521-3396","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":950440,"name":"Traci Shreyer","orcid":"0000-0003-3201-4434","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":911112,"name":"Gareth Arnott","orcid":"0000-0003-1525-3708","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":950441,"name":"Candace Croney","orcid":"0000-0003-0937-7376","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":950436,"name":"Aynsley C. Romaniuk","orcid":"0000-0003-3876-3743","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":88,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:28:43.133347Z","pmid":"36496902","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}