Behavioral traits detected in shelter dogs by a behavior evaluation

Animal shelters and other organizations caring for and placing dogs regularly use behavioral test batteries to evaluate a dog's behavioral tendencies in order to make safe and appropriate placements. Behavioral tendencies, or behavioral traits, are driven in part by personality. Therefore, test batteries should be able identify patterns of behaviors which reflect elements of canine personality. This study investigated the ability of one behavioral test battery currently in use at a shelter by examining the results from 668 behavior evaluations of shelter dogs. The test was composed of 19 sub-tests, one of which was excluded because it did not use the same coding scheme as the others. The 18 sub-tests included in the analysis used the same coding scheme where 38 behaviors were coded dichotomously (observed/not observed). Scores reflecting the number of sub-tests in which each behavior was observed were calculated and subjected to a principal components analysis with Varimax rotation. Analysis yielded a four factor solution which accounted for 45.3% of the total variance and included 26 of the behaviors. Three of the components, fearfulness (accounting for 12.3% of the variance), friendliness (11.7%), and aggressiveness (10.7%), were readily interpretable and consistent with other research. The fourth component, interest (10.5%), was unique and seemed to reflect a neutral or anticipatory state, perhaps related to the testing situation. Results provide evidence that this test battery does indeed detect elements of canine personality, which may enable identification of stable behavioral tendencies and so facilitate placement decisions.