CBD Study on Dogs & Activity Level

During a treatment protocol, researchers analyzed the overall daily activity and activity during specific exercise periods using a “MIXED” procedure. They considered the fixed effects of treatment, day, and then an interaction between treatment and day. For analysis of activity during the Quiet and Music sessions, researchers used a repeat procedure and included fixed effects of treatment, day, session, time of day, and all accompanying interactions. The random effect of dog nested within the activity block was included for each study. They included time of day as a repeated measure with dog nested within treatment as the subject.

In general, dogs were more active in the afternoon sessions compared to the morning sessions. All variables were influenced by the time of day. Activity points, activity duration, running, walking, and resting increased in the afternoon sessions compared to the morning sessions. However, the duration of no activity decreased in the afternoon sessions compared to the morning sessions. During these sessions, the Music session tended to decrease activity points and running compared to the Quiet session. The Music session also reduced activity duration, walking, and resting, while increasing the duration of no activity compared to the Quiet session.

There were interactions between session and time for activity points, no activity, and resting. There was also a trend for session and time interactions for activity duration, running, and walking. The type of session (Quiet or Music) did not affect activity points or duration of activity during the morning session. However, when the Quiet session was in the afternoon, there was an increase in activity points, duration of activity, resting, running, and walking compared to when the Music session was in the afternoon. The duration of no activity was similar between the Quiet and Music sessions in the morning, but it increased in the Music session compared to the Quiet session in the afternoon.

Activity points, running, and head shaking were not affected by treatment or any treatment interactions during the Quiet and Music sessions. Scratching was reduced by CBD during the Quiet and Music sessions compared to none, but the level of CBD inclusion did not affect the time spent scratching. CBD treatment did not have an overall effect on daily activity, but it did influence activity at different times of the day.

The dogs in the study were more active in the evening than in the morning, regardless of treatment or session type. Playing calming music in the kennels reduced activity compared to no music, which supports previous research showing that music can reduce stress and increase relaxation in kenneled dogs. However, this effect seems to be independent of the effect of CBD, as there was no interaction between treatment and session or a treatment by session by time interaction.

The dogs in the high CBD treatment were less active than the control dogs in the evening, suggesting that CBD may have a sedative or calming effect. However, this sedative effect was expected to be observed in the morning based on previous reports, but it was not observed during the morning sessions, exercise periods, or overall daily activity. Therefore, these results do not support the claim that CBD has a sedative or calming effect in dogs. Further investigation may provide more clarity on these findings.