Testing German shepherd puppies to assess their chances of certification

Svobodová, Ivona; Vápeník, Pavel; Pinc, Ludvík; Bartoš, Luděk

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2007.09.010

Cited by 41 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Indeed, many pertinent research questions could not be addressed due to the small number of samples available for moderator analyses. For example, many dog personality studies focus on how well an earlier behavioral test can predict later ‘success’ or certification in a training program but ‘success’ is usually not well-defined (i.e., usually reported as a yes/no outcome) [97]. Attempts at defining explicit domains of success/failure (e.g., quantitative descriptions of behavior) could enable potential inclusion of these studies in future meta-analyses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personality Consistency in Dogs: A Meta-Analysis

et al. 2013

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Personality, or consistent individual differences in behavior, is well established in studies of dogs. Such consistency implies predictability of behavior, but some recent research suggests that predictability cannot be assumed. In addition, anecdotally, many dog experts believe that ‘puppy tests’ measuring behavior during the first year of a dog's life are not accurate indicators of subsequent adult behavior. Personality consistency in dogs is an important aspect of human-dog relationships (e.g., when selecting dogs suitable for substance-detection work or placement in a family). Here we perform the first comprehensive meta-analysis of studies reporting estimates of temporal consistency of dog personality. A thorough literature search identified 31 studies suitable for inclusion in our meta-analysis. Overall, we found evidence to suggest substantial consistency (r = 0.43). Furthermore, personality consistency was higher in older dogs, when behavioral assessment intervals were shorter, and when the measurement tool was exactly the same in both assessments. In puppies, aggression and submissiveness were the most consistent dimensions, while responsiveness to training, fearfulness, and sociability were the least consistent dimensions. In adult dogs, there were no dimension-based differences in consistency. There was no difference in personality consistency in dogs tested first as puppies and later as adults (e.g., ‘puppy tests’) versus dogs tested first as puppies and later again as puppies. Finally, there were no differences in consistency between working versus non-working dogs, between behavioral codings versus behavioral ratings, and between aggregate versus single measures. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personality Consistency in Dogs: A Meta-Analysis

et al. 2013

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“…Devoted efforts of researchers working on dogs provided several tools for characterising individual behaviour (e.g., Sheppard & Mills, 2002;Hsu & Serpell, 2003;Mirkó et al, 2012), identified breed (genetic) differences (e.g., Wilsson & Sundgren, 1997a,b;Svartberg, 2002Svartberg, , 2006Strandberg et al, 2005;Turcsán et al, 2011), uncovered some gene polymorphisms associated with personality traits (e.g., Héjjas et al, 2007b;Takeuchi et al, 2009a,b;Konno et al, 2011), and studied the effect of development or stability of the behaviour characteristics over an extended period of time (e.g., Wilsson & Sundgren, 1998;Slabbert & Odendaal, 1999;Svobodová et al, 2008). Thus, understanding function and mechanisms of dog personality has a wide range of practical applications, including significant influence on the dog-human bond, dog welfare, and even human health.…”

Section: The Study Of Individualitymentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The predictive power of the puppy test applied by the Czech Law Enforcement Canine Breeding Facility is also reliable for predicting future service ability and is used for selecting dogs at the age of 7 weeks. Trainers look for relatively heavy dogs with good retrieving skills and those that like to chase a rug but display no noise phobia (Svobodová et al, 2008).…”

Section: The Predictive Significance Of Puppy Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Personality of Dogs

2014

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“…Details of the commonly used tests are often undocumented (e.g., UK military; Rooney et al, 2003). Some are published, including some of the tests used for guide dogs (Serpell and Hsu, 2001;Asher et al, 2013), police dogs (Slabbert and Odendaal, 1999;Svobodová et al, 2008), general service dogs (Wilsson and Sundgren, 1997), improvised explosives devices (IED) detection , and military dogs (Haverbeke et al, 2009;Sinn et al, 2010). Predictive testing is fraught with difficulties, and the extent to which this is objectively assessed is variable.…”

Section: Testing For Fearful Behaviormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many agencies use a suite of "puppy tests" which try to predict fearfulness among other traits. Tests for fear of loud noises include using weights dropped in buckets (Murphree and Dykman, 1965) or on tables (Svobodová et al, 2008), whistles (Pfaffenberger and Scott, 1976), metal cans (Fisher and Volhard, 1985), party poppers (Hoffmann et al, 1995), simulated thunderstorms (Seksel et al, 1999), clapping (Champness, 1996), or pistols (Slabbert and Odendaal, 1999). Tests may examine fear of novel people (e.g., Murphree and Dykman, 1965;Slabbert and Odendaal, 1999); novel objects, including umbrellas (Hoffmann et al, 1995), hair driers (Seksel et al, 1999), novel environments (e.g., open stairs [Goddard and Beilharz, 1986]), and unstable surfaces.…”

Section: Reliance On Testing Puppiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimizing fear and anxiety in working dogs: A review

Rooney

Clark

Casey

2016

Journal of Veterinary Behavior

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The causes of fear and anxiety in working dogs are multifactorial and may include inherited characteristics that differ between individuals (e.g. Goddard and Beilharz, 1982; 1984a,b), influences of the environment (Lefebvre et al., 2007), and learned experiences during particular sensitive periods (Appleby et al., 2002) and throughout life. Fear-related behavior compromises performance, leads to significant numbers of dogs failing to complete training (e.g., Murphy, 1995;Batt et al., 2008), early withdrawals from working roles (Caron-Lormier et al., 2016), and can jeopardize dog and handler safety. Hence, amelioration of fear and anxiety is critical to maintain dogs in working roles and to ensure their well-being. Although current methods of selection and training are seemingly effective at producing many dogs which work in a remarkable array of environments, some dogs do not make the grade, and longevity of service is not always maximized. Programs should strive for optimal efficiency and they need to continually analyze the value of each component of their program, seek evidence for its value and explore potential evidence-based improvements. Here we discuss scientific evidence for methods and strategies which may be of value in reducing the risk of fear behaviors developing in the working dog population and suggest potentially valuable techniques and future research to explore the benefit of these approaches. The importance of environmental influences, learning opportunities, and effects of underlying temperament on the outward expression of fear and anxiety should not be underestimated. Identification of characteristics which predict resilience to stress are valuable, both to enable careful breeding for these traits and to develop predictive tests for puppies and procured animals. It is vitally important to rear animals in optimal environments and introduce them to a range of stimuli in a positive, controlled, and gradual way, as these can all help minimize the number of dogs which develop workinhibiting fears. Future research should explore innovative methods to best measure the relative resilience of dogs to stressful events. This could include developing optimal exposure protocols to minimize the development of fear and anxiety, and exploring the influence of social learning and the most effective elements of stimulus presentation.

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Testing German shepherd puppies to assess their chances of certification

Cited by 41 publications

References 9 publications

Personality Consistency in Dogs: A Meta-Analysis

Personality Consistency in Dogs: A Meta-Analysis

The Personality of Dogs

Minimizing fear and anxiety in working dogs: A review

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