Pair-housed dog telemetry: Animal welfare refinement with early indications of similar study sensitivity

Introduction • Dogs are routinely housed individually during telemetry recording sessions. This is required when using the legacy DSI system, as animals need to be separated by at least 1 metre to avoid cross-talk between the signals transmitted on the same frequency. Whilst this does not prevent the inclusion of a companion dog (if pen size allows), in reality this tends to be avoided due to concerns around the behavioural impact of group housing on data values and quality, and potential for bioanalytical crosscontamination. • Most facilities co-house dogs before studies and between recording sessions within a study, in compatible groups which remain together for many years. Therefore, separation during recording periods may introduce additional and unwanted stress. It is recognised that haemodynamic parameters are improved in dogs housed with their usual run mate, rather than singly-housed1. • With a recent upgrade to DSI digital hardware (PhysioTel® Digital) within the Charles River (CRL) Edinburgh facility, as telemetry signals now transmit over different frequencies it is possible to record from multiple animals within the same area. We now record our telemetry data from pair-housed dogs and present our experiences and recommendations.