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

Caron-Lormier, Geoffrey; Harvey, Naomi D.; England, Gary C.W.; Asher, Lucy

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Authors

Geoffrey Caron-Lormier

Naomi D. Harvey

GARY ENGLAND gary.england@nottingham.ac.uk
Foundation Dean & Prof Comparative Veterinary Reproduction

Lucy Asher



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 More than 7,500 dogs were in the dataset used, 83% of which were retired (due to old age) and 17% were withdrawn for behavioural issues.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 Breed and sex had an effect on the odds of dogs being withdrawn under the different reasons.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.

Citation

Caron-Lormier, G., Harvey, N. D., England, G. C., & Asher, L. (2016). Using the incidence and impact of behavioural conditions in guide dogs to investigate patterns in undesirable behaviour in dogs. Scientific Reports, 6, Article 23860. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep23860

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 16, 2016
Online Publication Date Apr 14, 2016
Publication Date Apr 14, 2016
Deposit Date Nov 16, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Scientific Reports
Electronic ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher Nature Publishing Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 6
Article Number 23860
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/srep23860
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/785185
Publisher URL http://www.nature.com/articles/srep23860

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Copyright Statement
Copyright information regarding this work can be found at the following address: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0




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