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Dog emotions in focus: Research project at the University of Münster begins!
Research project at the University of Münster uses the WAU app to examine the well-being of dogs through emotions and behavior.
Dog emotions in focus: Research project at the University of Münster begins!
The research project of the Institute of Behavioral Biology University of Münster is dedicated to the topic of animal welfare and examines the emotions, laterality and personality of dogs. With the free “WAU app” dog owners can actively participate in this exciting project. Available on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, the app allows users to enter general information about their dog and document specific behavior.
An interesting example of observable behavior is the direction a dog turns when lying down to sleep. Users also have the opportunity to assess their dog's emotional state after each observation. Tutorials in the app provide valuable guidance for objective observation, with the main goal of the research being to find reliable indicators of animal welfare. Particular attention is paid to “side preferences,” which may provide information about the animals’ mood and personality.
Insights into the methodology
The project, which began in May 2025 and will last until December 2025, already has data from over 450 dogs and more than 8,400 individual observations collected between December 2021 and summer 2024. Participants are invited to document up to 100 observations during various walks, with just 10-20 observations being valuable.
“WAU” is not just an app, but part of the citizen science approach that promotes active citizen participation in research. All data collected is stored anonymously in a database and analyzed to enable objective recordings of emotions in the dog's origins.
The progress and results of this research will be published on the WAU app website, and participants will receive regular updates on developments via email.
Social relevance and future perspectives
Loud Co-research There are around 33.9 million pets living in Germany, including 10.5 million dogs. In view of these figures, research on topics relevant to animal welfare is of great importance. The aim is to raise awareness among pet owners about animal-friendly treatment and animal welfare. Findings from the study could also be transferable to other animal species and help improve animal welfare.
In addition, researchers at the University of Copenhagen on an AI model that recognizes emotions in animals. This model was tested on seven ungulate species, including cows and pigs, and achieved an impressive 89.49% success rate in determining positive or negative emotions. Research shows that emotions can be universally expressed among animals and could have far-reaching implications for animal welfare and conservation.
As these technologies expand, monitoring the emotional state of animals could become more efficient, leading to improved veterinary care. Open access to research data promotes collaboration and innovation by encouraging further investigation.
Thus, the project to research animal welfare is not only in the context of dog behavior studies, but is also linked to broader approaches to animal emotion recognition, which could potentially enable long-term changes in the way animals are treated.