Predictive validity of a method for evaluating temperament in young guide and service dogs

Duffy, Deborah L.; Serpell, James A.

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2012.02.011

Cited by 160 publications

(192 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…With a growing number of breeding animals which have been recruited from within the program, so their temperament profiles will be known, there will be more opportunities for future studies, such as an examination of prenatal effects and heritability. Whereas some studies of dogs have certainly investigated and described the temperament of adult animals (Goddard and Beilharz, 1984;Svartberg and Forkman, 2002;Horváth et al, 2007;Haverbeke et al, 2009), others have used temperament tests as aptitude tests to match dogs to specific tasks, such as police dogs (Slabbert and Odendaal, 1999), guide dogs for the blind (Duffy and Serpell, 2012), MWDs (Wilsson and Sundgren, 1997), or other working dogs (Svartberg, 2002), similar to Papers I and III. However, to my knowledge, none have attempted to evaluate the effects of maternal care during the first weeks postpartum, i.e., to study the maternal behavioural factors that matter and their links to the future ability of working dogs, as performed in Paper II of this thesis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As mentioned above it has been shown that the FFM can be applied on dogs to yield the OCEAN dimensions, except for Conscientiousness (Gosling and John, 1999). Another questionnaire--based method which was used in Paper III, the C--BARQ, results in 14 behavioural dimensions: Stranger--directed aggression, Owner--directed aggression, Dog--directed aggression, Stranger--directed fear, Non--social fear, Dog--directed fear, Separation related behaviours, Attachment--and Attention--seeking behaviours, Trainability, Chasing, Excitability, Touch sensitivity, Energy level, and Dog rivalry (Duffy and Serpell, 2012 …”

Section: Temperament Tests For Dogsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Early Experience, Maternal Care and Behavioural Test Design : Effects on the Temperament of Military Working Dogs

Foyer

2015

Linköping Studies in Science and Technology. Dissertations

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Domestication has resulted in animals with broad variations between as well as within breeds, which allows for the selection and breeding of animals for preferred traits. This selection has affected both the genotypes and phenotypes of animals. In dogs, it has allowed for breeding for different purposes, such as companionship or the performance of specific tasks, e.g., herding, hunting, searching and protecting. Each of these types of working dogs has specific traits that are, in part, controlled by genes; however, genes are not solely responsible for the variations in the traits of an individual. The environment also plays a role, which has been studied in rodents and primates in recent decades. For instance, it has been shown that the amount of maternal care that a rat receives as a pup affects its temperament later in life; the more maternal care, i.e., licking, grooming and arched--back nursing (LG--ABN) that a rat receives, the more stress resistant, less reactive and more explorative it will be as an adult. However, the question is whether this is also true for dogs, and the investigation of how temperament in dogs is affected by environmental factors early in life is the main objective of this thesis. Three of the studies presented in this thesis focused on investigating the general parameters, particularly maternal care, that influences offspring behaviour to contribute to the understanding of temperament development in military working dogs. One of these studies concentrated on the environmental factors that influence dogs early in life, and the results indicated that some factors, such as parity, litter size and birth season, affect temperament later in life. Another study investigated how females take care of their young, and the results demonstrated that females vary in their maternal style during the first three weeks postpartum and that this variation affects the temperament of the offspring. The third study focused on factors in the home environment, and the results showed that dogs approved through the evaluative temperament test were significantly associated with being hyperactive or restless and having difficulty settling down in the home environment. However, those dogs were also left home alone for more hours in a day than non--approved dogs. To be able to operate functionally, a military working dog needs to possess certain traits, or a certain temperament, and a vital characteristic is the way it responds to and copes with stress. This was investigated during an evaluative temperament test used to select dogs suitable for further training. Surprisingly, the results in the fourth study showed that the dogs approved for further training had significantly higher levels of salivary cortisol both before and after the test compared with the non--approved dogs. These findings may be of profound importance for understanding individual variations in behaviour and improving breeding schemes for working dogs. POPULÄRVETENSKAPLIG SAMMANFATTNINGFör över 15 000 år sedan började våra anfäder avla ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Temperament Tests For Dogsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Experience, Maternal Care and Behavioural Test Design : Effects on the Temperament of Military Working Dogs

Foyer

2015

Linköping Studies in Science and Technology. Dissertations

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“…There is only one survey that assessed candidate guide dogs using questionnaire before the age of 12 months [5]. At five guide and service dog associations in the U.S.A., C-BARQ was applied to PRs to assess candidate dogs of six and 12-month-old.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These findings support our view that novelty seeking tends to be consistent over developmental stages in each individual rather irrespective of environmental variables. Duffy and Serpell [5] assessed 'excitability' factor that included excitability toward family or visitors at six and 12-month-old using C-BARQ. Although 'excitability' at both ages was significantly associated with qualification, its relation with adult behavioral tendency was not discussed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association of Puppies’ Behavioral Reaction at Five Months of Age Assessed by Questionnaire with Their Later ‘Distraction’ at 15 Months of Age, an Important Behavioral Trait for Guide Dog Qualification

Kobayashi

Arata

Hattori

et al. 2013

The Journal of Veterinary Medical Science

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ABSTRACT. Guide dogs help visually impaired persons both physically and psychologically. More than half of all candidate dogs do not qualify, mainly for behavioral reasons. Improved training efficacy is desirable, and earlier prediction of qualification-related traits would be beneficial. In a previous study, we identified 'Distraction', assessed during the training period, as an important behavioral trait for judging the qualification of guide dogs at the Japan Guide Dog Association. As a second step, we aimed to develop an index that can predict during the puppy period. In this study, candidate guide dogs, 5-month-old Labrador retrievers, were assessed by puppy raisers using a newly developed questionnaire that consisted of 20 items. The same dogs were assessed later, at 15 months, by trainers to determine 'Distraction'. In principal components analysis, nine items, including excitability toward strangers, initiative while out for a walk, and exploration, composed the first principal component (PC1). When we compared PC1 points with 'Distraction' points, the two categories were positively correlated (n=110, r s =0.31, P=0.0009). Although the accuracy of the questionnaire should be increased, the results of the present study suggest that it may be possible to assess and predict 'Distraction', which is associated with disqualification for guide dogs, early in the puppy-raising period. KEY WORDS: behavioral traits, Distraction, guide dogs for visually-impaired people, puppy-raising period, questionnaire.

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“…The C-BARQ (Hsu & Serpell, 2003;Duffy & Serpell, 2012) contained 101 questions, 22 of which could be removed without potentially reducing reliability and/or validity; 21 of these were removed, leaving 80 items. To these original C-BARQ items, 15 questions regarding playfulness and sociability were added in accordance with Svartberg (2005).…”

Section: Behavioural Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic evaluation of behaviour in dogs

Arvelius

2015

Journal of Veterinary Behavior

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A dog's behavioural characteristics are important for the dog, for the dog owner and for society as a whole. Behavioural traits can be changed by breeding, but to be effective when selecting breeding animals, good methods for measuring behaviour are essential. The aim of this thesis was to provide information on a number of dog behavioural measurement methods regarding their potential to be used for genetic evaluation: the Herding Trait Characterisation, the Swedish and Norwegian English Setter field trials, the Swedish Armed Forces temperament test, the Dog Mentality Assessment (DMA), and an extended version of the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire. The aim was also to advance our understanding of factors affecting the usefulness of behavioural measurements for breeding purposes.Average heritabilities for behavioural variables (items) within measurement method ranged from 0.1 to 0.3, and the items were markedly influenced by systematic environmental effects. All studied measurement methods can be used for selection of breeding animals, but selection based on individual performance is suboptimal. Using BLUP breeding values would substantially increase accuracy of selection and the potential genetic progress and is therefore recommended. Rough Collie results from DMA showed strong genetic correlations with important everyday life traits as described by dog owners in the questionnaire. Therefore, in order to improve everyday life behaviour in Rough Collie, DMA breeding values for relevant traits should be used for selection.The results indicated that from a heritability perspective, behavioural measurements should be objective rather than subjective, and neutral rather than passing value judgments. Collaboration between countries within breed is also advised because a joint genetic evaluation increases the number of selection candidates, and may also increase breeding value accuracies rather dramatically, as was shown for the English Setter field trial results from Sweden and Norway.For half of the studied methods, the measured items were summarized into composite traits. Heritability estimates for composite traits were higher than the average of the items used for creating these traits. Because the composite traits also can be expected to be more stable over time and between situations, it would be advisable to use them as selection traits. Keywords

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Predictive validity of a method for evaluating temperament in young guide and service dogs

Cited by 160 publications

References 26 publications

Early Experience, Maternal Care and Behavioural Test Design : Effects on the Temperament of Military Working Dogs

Early Experience, Maternal Care and Behavioural Test Design : Effects on the Temperament of Military Working Dogs

Association of Puppies’ Behavioral Reaction at Five Months of Age Assessed by Questionnaire with Their Later ‘Distraction’ at 15 Months of Age, an Important Behavioral Trait for Guide Dog Qualification

Genetic evaluation of behaviour in dogs

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