Behaviour and experiences of dogs during the first year of life predict the outcome in a later temperament test

Abstract

Early life experiences are known to shape the behavioural development of animals, and therefore events occurring during preadolescence and adolescence may have long-term effects. In dogs, this period of time may be important for later behaviour and thereby also the suitability of dogs for different working tasks. We used the breeding practice for Swedish military working dogs to investigate this possibility. German Shepherds were bred at a central facility and then kept in host families for about a year, before participating in a standardised test determining their temperament, behaviour, and suitability for further training. We surveyed the link between the behaviour of 71 prospective military working dogs in their home situations during the first year of life as assessed by an amended C-BARQ survey, and their performance in a temperament test (T-test) applied at about 17 months of age. Dogs which scored high for C-BARQ category "Trainability" showed a significantly higher success rate in the T-test (P<0.001), while dogs that scored high for "Stranger-Directed Fear", "Non-social Fear" and "Dog-Directed Fear" showed a significantly lower success rate (all P<0.05). Also dogs with higher C-BARQ scores on "Hyperactivity/Restlessness, Difficulties in Settling Down" (P=0.028), and "Chasing/Following Shadows or Light Spots" (P=0.035) were more successful, as were dogs left longer times at home (2.97±0.32 vs. 2.04±0.33 h/day; P=0.050). Index value, describing the expected success rate in the T-test, was negatively correlated with "Non-social fear" (r=-0.35) and "Stranger directed fear" (r=-0.35). The combined effect of the significant C-BARQ categories explained 29.5 % of the variance in the later T-test results (P=0.006). The results indicate that the experiences and behaviour of the dogs during their first year of life is crucial in determining their later behaviour and temperament, something that could potentially be used to improve selection procedures for working dogs. Furthermore, an unsuspected result was that success in the T-test was correlated with behaviours usually associated with problem behaviour, which calls for a deeper analysis of the selection criteria used for working dogs.

Genetic testing of dogs predicts problem behaviors in clinical and nonclinical samples

“…Working dogs had higher risk of separation-related problems, increased energy and coprophagia (FMM only). The energy trait, and possibly separation, is consistent with a previous study of Swedish military working dog temperament using C-BARQ phenotypes 40 . SMWDs which passed temperament tests were more hyperactive/restless -which we showed here to be correlated with energy (p<0.001, Fig.…”

Behavioral and Cognitive Factors That Affect the Success of Scent Detection Dogs

“…However, dogs that underwent this familiarization program were also selected at purchase as being more sociable and showing less fear of humans prior to the start of the program, which could have affected the findings. However, other studies that have investigated the influence of increased contact between the dog and the handler, such as dogs living at the handler's home, have also shown positive correlations with increased obedience (Lefebvre, Diederich, Delcourt, & Giffroy, 2007) and increased performance (Foyer, Bjällerhag, Wilsson, & Jensen, 2014;Haverbeke et al, 2010) in military dogs. Nonetheless, it should be noted that both the studies of Lefebvre et al (2007) and Foyer et al (2014) used behavioral questionnaire rather than experimental manipulations to determine the effects, which may be more subject to bias, especially if those reporting are not blind to the conditions being compared.…”

Assessing companion dog behavior in a social setting

“…Most standardized tests are performed in an environment which is unfamiliar to the dog and often include both sudden and novel stimuli (Murphy, 1998;Jones and Gosling, 2005;Svartberg et al, 2005), to a large extent measuring the behavior during stress and fear. For example, the Swedish armed forces select dogs for training and breeding based on performance in a battery of more or less fear-inducing test situations (Wilsson and Sundgren, 1997;Foyer et al, 2014;Arvelius et al, 2014). The dog mentality assessment and the new version of behavioral and personality description for dogs in Sweden aim at describing the behavior and temperament of mainly companion dogs.…”