Shelter dogs in animal-assisted intervention: the car ride alone raises cortisol
Published by Planète Pets · managing editor: Clément Lacaille · how our guides are written
A dog heading to an activity it enjoys — the park, a training class, an animal-assisted intervention session — is not necessarily relaxed during the ride that gets it there. A study published in 2021 by d'Angelo, d'Ingeo, Ciani, Visone, Sacchettino, Avallone and Quaranta in Animals isolates exactly this moment (, doi 10.3390/ani11020345). Our other guidance is gathered in the dog travel and safety section.
Contents · 5 sections
The protocol: five dogs, three samples per outing
Five shelter dogs took part for two months in weekly animal-assisted intervention sessions with inmates at a prison in southern Italy. Every two weeks, researchers collected saliva cortisol at three points: at the kennel before departure (baseline), right after the vehicle ride to the prison, and at the end of the working session with the inmates. The sample is deliberately small — the authors themselves call the study exploratory — but the three-point protocol separates what belongs to the ride from what belongs to the activity.
The ride raises cortisol, the activity does not
The clear finding: the vehicle ride significantly raises cortisol compared with the kennel baseline. The intervention activity itself, by contrast, does not show that same one-off spike. In other words, it is not meeting the inmates that weighs on these dogs — it is simply being transported to an unfamiliar place, even when the destination is not threatening.
Over two months, an opposite long-term trend
The most interesting result plays out over time: the baseline value measured at the kennel drops significantly between the start and the end of the two-month programme. The authors read this as a sign that the whole programme — despite the cortisol spike at every ride — benefits the dogs' overall welfare, likely through gradual habituation and the social enrichment the sessions provide. The one-off ride spike and the favourable long-term trend do not contradict each other: they operate on different timescales.
What it means for a dog that will never go to prison
The lesson reaches well beyond the prison context. For any dog driven to the park, the vet or a training class, the ride itself deserves to be treated as a stress factor in its own right — not cancelled out simply because the destination is pleasant. A study on beagles shows that repeated habituation to transport does not fully erase this physiological response, as we detail in our article on how dogs habituate to car travel. A dog showing signs of excitement or discomfort in the car, even on the way to a place it later enjoys, is therefore not necessarily anxious about its destination — it is reacting to the ride itself. Boarding kennels show a comparable stress profile, detailed in our article on stress in dog boarding kennels.
Frequently asked questions
Should I worry if my dog is stressed in the car but loves its destination?
Not necessarily. This study suggests the ride and the activity are two distinct sources of stress: a dog can react to transport without that undermining its enjoyment once it arrives.
Does this study apply to an ordinary pet dog?
With caution: the sample is five shelter dogs followed in a particular context. The mechanism — the ride as a stress factor distinct from the destination — is nonetheless consistent with other work on canine transport, which makes it a reasonable reference point rather than a definitive certainty.
An accessory from our shop for this use: Reflective vest harness + 1.5 m leash for small dogs (€36.90) · the whole shop
An accessory from our shop for this use: Adjustable dog car seat belt tether ($21.90, ships from the US) · the US shop
This guide is part of Planète Pets’s Dogs universe. Our advice is general in nature: for any health concern, your veterinarian remains the only reference.