Testosterone Poisoning Strikes Again

Testosterone-fueled Man Bites Dog

UT researchers find that dog handlers who lose at contest punish pets.

By Mary Ann Roser AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Monday, October 16, 2006

Pity man's best friend if he has a testosterone-charged master and flames out in a canine contest. Fido wouldn't be nervous if he had a handler who was less hormone-endowed.

That, at least, is the conclusion of a unique study done by University of Texas researchers who say they are among the first to examine hormonal interactions in two species: humans and dogs.

The researchers based their findings on testosterone measurements taken in the men and cortisol, or stress hormone, changes taken from their pets at dog agility competitions.The findings were so remarkable among losers of the competition, the researchers said, that they were able to account for most of the changes in the dog's stress levels by looking at the men's testosterone levels before the contest.

"What we found was, this measure of testosterone was not only predictive but powerfully predictive," said Robert Josephs, an associate professor of psychology at UT. "I've never seen as powerful a predictive variable. It shocked us." He thinks the work has implications for how people treat animals, children and romantic partners.

Not everyone is impressed.Josephs and his co-researcher, graduate student Amanda Jones, said their work has been controversial, even attracting hate mail after being published last month in the journal Hormones and Behavior. A national expert in human and animal hormones said that though it sounds intriguing, more study was needed before drawing conclusions.

"People are upset by the study," Jones wrote in an e-mail. "I've actually had people tell us that research money and time shouldn't have been used to look at this sort of thing and that it's just 'bad' people who 'beat' their dogs."

The research was part of a $100,000 National Science Foundation grant, but Josephs said they spent less than $10,000 on this portion.

Jones took saliva samples from the men and the dogs at two dog competitions in San Antonio in March 2004 to obtain the hormone levels. So they would know the men's normal testosterone levels, saliva was taken before the competition and at a picnic. The readings at those two events were similar, Josephs said.

Soon after the winners and losers were announced at the competitions, saliva was taken from all 83 men in the study and all of the dogs again. The men's behavior toward their dogs in the winning and losing groups was observed.

Josephs and Jones found that men with higher levels of testosterone whose dogs lost were more likely to punish their pets. The punishments included yelling at the dog and shoving it. The dog responded with a rise in stress hormone.

By contrast, men who had lower testosterone levels responded to the loss by petting and hugging their dogs. Petting the dog's head was much more effective at lowering stress than petting the body, Josephs said.

As for the winners, the researchers found no changes in the dog or in the men's behavior regardless of the testosterone measurement.The researchers surmised that the winning humans did not have their status or dominance threatened, but the losers apparently did, causing them to take it out on their dogs.

"What predicts how you're going to treat your dog, whether you're going to beat up your dog or be nice?" Josephs asked. "The answer is your level of testosterone when you arrived at the competition. . . . This nice, sweet, low-testosterone guy, despite defeat, not only didn't take it out on the dog but also made the dog feel better. He gave love to the dog, and the dog responded by relaxing."

Men who regularly mistreat their dogs, however mildly, are harming them, he said. High levels of stress hormone "kill cells in the hippocampus (of the brain), which controls memory, and it suppresses the immune system," which affects health, Josephs said.

Douglas Granger, a professor of biobehavioral health at Pennsylvania State University who has studied stress in dogs during simulated thunderstorms, said the work is "very interesting" and makes sense. But he cautioned against drawing conclusions from it or from believing that testosterone causes certain behaviors.

"The current thinking is, testosterone increases the probability of that behavioral tendency, which already exists in the person," said Granger, who also directs Penn State's behavioral endocrinology lab. "This is a perfect example of that."

"The men with the losing dogs obviously were heavily invested in the competition and took out their frustration on their dogs. But to say that testosterone causes aggressive behavior is not accurate, despite the public perception of raging hormones," Granger said. "It had to be a combination of the human investment in the competition and that they were disappointed," he said. "That's the key thing. More study is needed" to fully understand what is happening.

Josephs and Jones say they hope people will consider the impact on bomb-sniffing dogs and other service dogs who are punished for messing up."These dogs serve a crucial function," Josephs said. "That's why it's an important connection to make." Punishing those dogs not only puts the dogs at risk, it also can put people at risk, he said.

What the study shows is that even brief interactions that seem somewhat inocuous "can have a large impact on those with whom we interact, human or non-," Jones wrote.

A dentist who wrote an especially shrill note to the researchers said the study was about bullying and to claim otherwise was "crap," Josephs said. "He signed the note, 'a high testosterone male.' "

Find this article at: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/10/16/16nervousdogs.html maroser@statesman.com; 445-3619 Check on Testosterone Poisoning here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone_poisoning#Psychological_Analysis