Spontaneous activities measured continuously by an accelerometer in beagledogs housed in a cage

Spontaneous activities in 10 beagle dogs housed in an individual cage were recorded continuously for 2 hr by an accelerometer fixed to dogs and by a v ideo camera. The responses of the accelerometer were compared to movements identified from the video tapes. We found that gross differentiation of qua ntitative spontaneous activities might be possible by using only the accele rometer if the threshold of the accelerometer and the amount of acceleratio n volume were set adequately: the responses of the accelerometer at the thr eshold of 0.10 G with the acceleration number of 251 or more revealed only movements of the whole-body, and those at the threshold of 0.02 G all movem ents including changes of the part(s) of the body.