Using the incidence and impact of behavioural conditions in guide dogs to investigate patterns in undesirable behaviour in dogs

Abstract

The domestic dog is one of our most popular companions and longest relationships, occupying different roles, from pet to working guide dog for the blind. As dogs age different behavioural issues occur and in some cases dogs may be relinquished or removed from their working service. Here we analyse a dataset on working guide dogs that were removed from their service between 1994 and 2013. We use the withdrawal reasons as a proxy for the manifestation of undesirable behaviour. More than 7,500 dogs were in the dataset used, 83% of which were retired (due to old age) and 17% were withdrawn for behavioural issues. We found that the main reasons for behaviour withdrawal were environmental anxiety, training, and fear/aggression. Breed and sex had an effect on the odds of dogs being withdrawn under the different reasons. The age at withdrawal for the different withdrawal reasons suggested that dogs were more likely to develop fear/aggression related issues early on, whilst issues related to training could develop at almost any age. We found no evidence for heterosis effecting behaviour. We believe that this work is relevant to the pet dog population and had implications for understanding ageing and genetic influences on behaviour.

Minimizing fear and anxiety in working dogs: A review

“…Hence, in addition to welfare concerns arising from exposing working dogs to fear-provoking situations for which they are poorly prepared, and the issue of handler safety when dogs perform poorly, there are potential economic consequences. Fear and anxiety can lead to the loss of dogs from programs at assessment, during training, or later through early withdrawal from active working roles (Caron-Lormier et al, 2016), with an associated loss of the potential contribution they could make during their working lives.…”

“…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.…”

A New Metric for Quantifying the Relative Impact of Risk Factors on Loss of Working Life Illustrated in a Population of Working Dogs

“…In our previous works Caron-Lormier and colleagues used a historic dataset to understand both the incidence and impact of health and behavioural issues in working guide dogs, in terms of reduced days of working life [17, 18]. These studies give a good description of the situation, integrating incidence and impact information to reveal which disorders had the most overall impact on the population.…”

“…With regards to the effect of undesirable behaviour on withdrawal of working guide dogs, we reported that the issues affecting the greatest number of guide dog partnerships were environmental anxiety, training related breakdowns, and fear/aggression [18]. However, the issues that led to the greatest reduction in working life were fear/aggression, chasing, and attentiveness.…”

“…Whilst Guide Dogs will be taking steps to ensure partnerships are lasting at an individual-level they also need to understand how best to ensure more partnerships last longer at a population-level. To enable such decisions within Guide Dogs, or other working dog organisations, a quantitative metric is required that summarises such information to identify the reasons for removal from working service that have the greatest impact on the organisation [17, 18]. …”