A standardised approach to quantifying activity in domestic dogs

Objective assessment of activity via accelerometry can provide valuable insights into dog health and welfare. Common activity metrics involve using acceleration cut-points to group data into intensity categories and reporting the time spent in each category. Lack of consistency and transparency in cut-point derivation makes it difficult to compare findings between studies. We present an alternative metric for use in dogs: the acceleration threshold (as a fraction of standard gravity, 1 g = 9.81 m/s²) above which the animal's X most active minutes are accumulated (MX_ACC) over a 24-hour period. We report M2_ACC, M30_ACC and M60_ACC data from a colony of healthy beagles (n = 6) aged 3-13 months. To ensure that reference values are applicable across a wider dog population, we incorporated labelled data from beagles and volunteer pet dogs (n = 16) of a variety of ages and breeds. The dogs' normal activity patterns were recorded at 200 Hz for 24 hours using collar-based Axivity-AX3 accelerometers. We calculated acceleration vector magnitude and MX_ACC metrics. Using labelled data from both beagles and pet dogs, we characterize the range of acceleration outputs exhibited enabling meaningful interpretation of MX_ACC. These metrics will help standardize measurement of canine activity and serve as outcome measures for veterinary and translational research.