Characteristics and risk factors of dog aggression in the Slovak Republic

Abstract

Canine aggression is a widespread problem which receives a lot of attention from the media. It has important consequences in terms of public health and animal welfare. To address this issue it is necessary to first determine its epidemiological characteristics in the target population. This study was aimed at exploring the characteristics and determining the risk factors for dog aggression in the Slovak Republic and, in particular, for aggression directed at humans. For this purpose, we used a questionnaire directed to dog owners which included information about dog and owner characteristics, housing, training and fear behaviour. From the 177 analysed questionnaires, 67% portrayed dogs with some type of aggressive behaviour. Half of the animals showed some degree of owner-directed aggression and almost 40% were aggressive towards unfamiliar people. The approach of an unfamiliar male was the situation that stimulated most dogs to behave aggressively (33.3%) and a small percentage (2.3%) of the animals always showed aggression when approached by an unfamiliar child. Multivariate logistic regression models found that "owner's age" (OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.93 -0.99) and "neuter status" (OR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.13-0.98) were significantly associated (P < 0.05) with the exhibiting of aggressive behaviour in different contexts. "Dog's sex" (OR, 2.16; 95% CI, 1.09-4.27) and "type of training" (OR, 2.32; 95% CI, 1.19-4.80) were significantly associated (P < 0.05) with the exhibiting of aggressive behaviour towards familiar people. Younger owners were more likely to have aggressive dogs and neutered dogs were less likely to be aggressive in different contexts. Male dogs and dogs with informal training were more likely to be aggressive towards familiar people. Manifestations of fear were significantly associated with the expression of aggressive behaviour in all models. This study provides the first preliminary results on the characteristics and potential risk factors for human-directed aggression in Slovakia. The analysis of these data may help in determining which preventive measures should be given priority in this country.

Pet Animals’ Behavior Analysis: A Review

“…They considered 177 dogs for the study of aggressive behavior. Out of it, nearly 50% of the dogs showed owner-directed aggression and the remaining showed aggression toward unfamiliar people [27]. Most male dogs and informal training dogs have more aggressive behavior [28].…”

Influence of gender, neuter status, and training method on police dog narcotics olfaction performance, behavior and welfare

“…In another study, it was found that gonadectomy of trained male dogs caused them to become more aggressive than a trained female dog [ 37 ]. Matos et al [ 38 ] found that the castration of trained dogs caused them to show more aggressiveness toward trainers; especially, trained male dogs showed more aggressiveness toward trainers. On the other hand, intact trained male and female dogs were lower in showing aggression and biting during training than castrated trained dogs [ 39 ].…”

Are Underweight Shelter Dogs More Likely to Display Food Aggression toward Humans?

“…Food aggression is rather common in the pet dog population, too. In the Slovak Republic, 6.2% of survey respondents indicated that their pet dog sometimes, usually, or always displayed aggressive behavior when disturbed while eating versus 11.9% when disturbed while chewing on a treat [9]. In the United States, between 10% [4] and 28.9% [3] of shelter dog adopters reported food aggression in the home after adoption (based on responses to follow-up surveys).…”