Development of the “Highly Sensitive Dog” questionnaire to evaluate the personality dimension “Sensory Processing Sensitivity” in dogs

Abstract

In humans, the personality dimension ‘sensory processing sensitivity (SPS)’, also referred to as “high sensitivity”, involves deeper processing of sensory information, which can be associated with physiological and behavioral overarousal. However, it has not been studied up to now whether this dimension also exists in other species. SPS can influence how people perceive the environment and how this affects them, thus a similar dimension in animals would be highly relevant with respect to animal welfare. We therefore explored whether SPS translates to dogs, one of the primary model species in personality research. A 32-item questionnaire to assess the “highly sensitive dog score” (HSD-s) was developed based on the “highly sensitive person” (HSP) questionnaire. A large-scale, international online survey was conducted, including the HSD questionnaire, as well as questions on fearfulness, neuroticism, “demographic” (e.g. dog sex, age, weight; age at adoption, etc.) and “human” factors (e.g. owner age, sex, profession, communication style, etc.), and the HSP questionnaire. Data were analyzed using linear mixed effect models with forward stepwise selection to test prediction of HSD-s by the above-mentioned factors, with country of residence and dog breed treated as random effects. A total of 3647 questionnaires were fully completed. HSD-, fearfulness, neuroticism and HSP-scores showed good internal consistencies, and HSD-s only moderately correlated with fearfulness and neuroticism scores, paralleling previous findings in humans. Intra- (N = 447) and inter-rater (N = 120) reliabilities were good. Demographic and human factors, including HSP score, explained only a small amount of the variance of HSD-s. A PCA analysis identified three subtraits of SPS, comparable to human findings. Overall, the measured personality dimension in dogs showed good internal consistency, partial independence from fearfulness and neuroticism, and good intra- and inter-rater reliability, indicating good construct validity of the HSD questionnaire. Human and demographic factors only marginally affected the HSD-s suggesting that, as hypothesized for human SPS, a genetic basis may underlie this dimension within the dog species.

Sensory Processing Sensitivity in the Context of Environmental Sensitivity: A Critical Review and Development of Research Agenda

“…Finally, the questionnaire-based assessment of SPS has been recently extended to the study of personality in animals. The Highly Sensitive Dog owner-report questionnaire has been developed for the assessment of a canine-SPS trait in domestic dogs (Braem et al, 2017). Animal models of SPS have also been developed (see section 7).…”

Parallels in the interactive effect of highly sensitive personality and social factors on behaviour problems in dogs and humans

“…An international online questionnaire (published in 5 ) served to test the hypotheses presented in this study. The questionnaire was available in English ( Supplementary Table S1) and German ( Supplementary Table S2) and consisted of three parts (see 5 for details).…”

“…An international online questionnaire (published in 5 ) served to test the hypotheses presented in this study. The questionnaire was available in English ( Supplementary Table S1) and German ( Supplementary Table S2) and consisted of three parts (see 5 for details). Part 1 comprised general demographic information on the dogs and the owners, including presence of behaviour problems and questions regarding the use of different communication styles, i.e.…”

“…Within the frame of this questionnaire-based study, it was, however, not possible to take these details into consideration. Part 2 consisted of the validated "Highly Sensitive Dog Questionnaire" 5 , composed of 32 items scored by the owners on a 7-point Likert scale. The mean of all 32 items was used to calculate a "cSPS-score", which ranged between 1 to 7 (the higher the score, the higher the dog's sensitivity).…”

“…Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS), also known as "high sensitivity", is a personality trait in humans that involves a deeper than average processing of sensory information 1,2 , an enhanced perception of subtle stimuli [2][3][4] and a strong emotional response to stimuli 3 . Recently, we identified a personality trait in the domestic dog which is comparable to SPS in humans, referred to as canine Sensory Processing Sensitivity (cSPS) 5 . The possibility to measure an analogous trait allows comparative research to be conducted and offers the potential to investigate interactive effects of dog and human personality.…”