The wording given to the owners is all presented here, and in the supplementary material. No further definitions for behaviours or vocalisations were given. Pined, whined and cried were all mentioned, as all are words owner tend to use to describe similar dog vocalisations. As with all owner awareness of SRBs, it is fundamentally challenging unless they use recording equipment to view their dogs when they leave them or are otherwise able to view their dogs when alone such as by looking through a window. As this is a limitation of the method used, the appropriate place to mention this would be in the Discussion, not the Methods, so we have not discussed this limitation there.
My main question when reading this section concerned how owners would know that certain separation-related behaviors occurred when they were away? There would be evidence for some behaviors, such as destructive behavior or defecation, but how would owners know about pacing or tail-chasing? This topic is not addressed until the Discussion section (line 395) but should be addressed here in the Methods and Materials section. Were behaviors, including different vocalizations, defined for owners? For example, what is the difference between pined, whined, and cried?