{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,24]],"date-time":"2026-10-24T01:38:16Z","timestamp":1792805896561,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787097600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Vet. Sci.","Veterinary Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Judgment bias tasks are widely used to assess affective state in adult dogs but have rarely been applied before adoption age. To test whether a spatial version is viable, 82 puppies from 17 litters were tested at 60 days of age; 80 provided valid observations for analysis. After discrimination training, positive (P), negative (N) and ambiguous (A) locations were presented in up to three trials; latency to the bowl was recorded (30 s cut-off). Latencies from the first two trials (476 observations, 85 right-censored) were analyzed with mixed-effects Cox proportional hazards models including puppy and litter as random intercepts. Median recorded times were 2.54 s (P), 13.25 s (N) and 3.86 s (A), with timeouts in 0%, 38.4% and 15.2%, respectively. Cue location affected approach rate (\u03c72 = 207.03, df = 2, p &lt; 0.001); hazard ratios were N versus P 0.11 (95% CI 0.09\u20130.15), A versus P 0.32 (0.25\u20130.41) and N versus A 0.36 (0.27\u20130.47), all significant (Holm-adjusted). Trial number (p = 0.076) and sex (p = 0.483) were not significant. Random-effect variances were 0.180 (puppy) and 0.261 (litter). Puppies discriminated between outcome-associated locations and approached the ambiguous location at an intermediate rate, indicating that the task is feasible at 60 days of age.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/vetsci13080828","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T09:30:53Z","timestamp":1787131853000},"page":"828","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Judgment Bias Responses in Domestic Dog Puppies at 60 Days of Age"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-2021-3082","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Valentina","family":"Gazzano","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-1152-8744","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Virginia","family":"Bellini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5483-6354","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesca","family":"Cecchi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7342-6411","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria Claudia","family":"Curadi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5221-5714","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paolo","family":"Baragli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9649-2027","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Angelo","family":"Gazzano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2089-7412","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Asahi","family":"Ogi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical Sciences and Translational Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"375","DOI":"10.1016\/j.physbeh.2007.02.003","article-title":"Assessment of positive emotions in animals to improve their welfare","volume":"92","author":"Boissy","year":"2007","journal-title":"Physiol. 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