ArticleAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI2026
Beyond the Mission: Long-Term Endocrine Dynamics in Search and Rescue Dog-Handler Teams.
Article in Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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0 citing papers in PubMed.
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Search and rescue (SAR) dog-handler teams work under challenging conditions that may influence long-term physiological stress and arousal. Hair steroid analysis provides a reliable measure of chronic endocrine activity in SAR teams. Hair cortisol (HCL) and hair testosterone (HTL) offer non-invasive markers of chronic hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and (the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal) HPG axis activity. This study examined long-term endocrine patterns in SAR dogs and their handlers and explored correlations within and between species. Hair samples were collected from 60 SAR dogs and their handlers. Dog hair was taken from the interscapular region, and human hair from the occipital area. Cortisol and testosterone were extracted using established methanol-based protocols and quantified via ELISA. Dogs showed a mean HCL of 10.974 pg/mg and a mean HTL of 3.008 pg/mg. Female dogs had significantly higher cortisol levels than males, and cortisol tended to increase with age. Testosterone did not differ by sex, breed, or castration status. Handlers showed a mean HCL of 10.874 pg/mg and a mean HTL of 2.925 pg/mg, with no sex differences. However, handler cortisol levels varied significantly by dog breed. Additionally, HCL levels of dogs and their handlers were negatively correlated.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.