Pheromones: what are they?
Formerly called “pherhormones”, pheromones are volatile chemical substances that participate in intraspecific communication (between individuals of the same species). Pheromones are thus present in all living beings, whether they belong to the animal, plant and even bacterial kingdom. Of course, the dog is no exception to the rule!
Did you know?
The word pheromone has a Greek etymology. It means "carrying a hormone" or "outwardly carried hormone" .
It was Peter Karlson and Martin Lüsher who gave a complete definition for the first time in 1959 in the journal Nature:
A pheromone is a chemical product or a set of chemical products emitted outside the body of an individual which, when received by an animal of the same species, triggers a specific reaction: either a behavior (inciting pheromones), or a biological modification (modifying pheromones).
This definition highlights an important fact: inciting pheromones can facilitate the appearance of a behavior in the living being that receives it, without prior learning of this behavior having been necessary.
Where do pheromones come from and what are they used for in dogs?
In dogs, pheromones are produced in different parts of their body by:
- the sebaceous glands of his skin, these same glands that produce sebum, this fatty film that covers the surface of the dog's skin.We know in particular that the sebaceous glands of the dog's ears, the intermammary furrow of the bitch as well as those located at the level of the dog's foot pads and the base of the tail allow him to emit pheromones,
- secretions of mucous origin (vaginal, oral, or even urinary secretions),
- his anal glands.
Canine pheromones are an important component of olfactory communication in dogs.
They are used in particular for:
- social communication between dogs: the recognition of dogs between them or the passage of a congener in a given place,
- the attraction of a sexual partner during the bitch's heat period or when sexual arousal is triggered,
- report a danger to other individuals,
- sooth the puppy during feeding and create an attachment of the little ones to the mother.
Pheromones can be actively released by the dog during marking behavior (urinary, fecal marking, scratching the ground after needs, involuntary emptying of the anal glands during stress felt by the dog) or in a completely passive way (deposits of pheromones by the pads during walking, for example).
Canine pheromones: how do they work?
The pheromones, left in the external environment or sniffed directly on the body of the congener, are perceived by the vomeronasal organ (or Jacobson's organ) of the receiving dog (or Jacobson's organ), thanks to the behavior of flehmen.
The dog then rolls up its chops and sucks in the air containing the volatile chemicals with its mouth ajar, as if panting, sometimes even with its teeth chattering.
The molecules thus inhaled will bind to specific pheromone receptors in the vomeronasal organ, located above the dog's palate inside the sinus cavities. The message then goes up through the vomeronasal nerve to the brain to be decrypted there.
Depending on whether it is a modifying or inciting pheromone, it then induces a physiological modification in the receiver or facilitates the adoption of a given behavior. Be careful though: it is not because a dog will pick up a pheromone that “dictates” him to adopt such or such behavior that he will necessarily comply. The dog is an evolved living being that has a certain degree of freedom and above all the ability to "self-inhibit" some of its behaviors depending on the context.
Pheromonotherapy in dogs
Recent discoveries on dog pheromones have made it possible to develop a product intended to soothe dogs.
There is thus on the market a synthetic analogue of apaisine, a pheromone secreted in the intermammary furrow of the bitch and discovered in the 1990s by behavioral veterinarian Patrick Pageat. This pheromone, secreted from a few days after the birth of puppies until their 3th week of life, is said to have soothing effects on the little ones who come to suckle but also tranquilizers on adult dogs.
Available in the form of a diffuser or a necklace, apaisines have no side effects, interactions or contradictions and are ideal:
- when a puppy arrives in its new home,
- to facilitate the adaptation of an anxious dog to a new environment (moving, vacation),
- in all situations that generate stress and fear in dogs,
- in helping to treat disorders related to a dog's hyperattachment to his master.
It is obvious that used alone, these apaisines will not be enough to solve the dog's disorder, but they facilitate the implementation of behavioral therapy carried out with the help of a behavioral veterinarian or a dog trainer-behaviourist.