Fear/Reactivity in working dogs: An analysis of 37 years of behavioural data from the Mira Foundation’s future service dogs

Abstract

Defining and predicting a dog’s personality is a major concern for groups providing service and/or working dogs. The Mira Foundation is a non-profit organisation offering service dogs to autistic children and individuals with motor or visual disabilities. Since its establishment in 1981, the Foundation has donated thousands of dogs and registered behavioural data on its dogs by relying on rigorous and standardised procedures. First, at 6 and 12 months of age, while the dogs are in a foster family, data are collected using questionnaires to assess the presence or absence of specific behaviours (QFFs). Then, at 1 year of age, just prior to receiving professional training, dog trainers conduct a set of short behavioural tests to evaluate dogs for various traits that are key for training. Exploiting the unique database created by the Foundation, this study aimed to investigate whether, as pointed out in the literature, fearfulness can be a reliable predictor of adult dog personality traits and of qualification as a service dog. More specifically, three goals were pursued in the present study: 1) to study the possibility of extracting fearfulness dimensions at 6 months and 1 year of age; 2) to assess the stability of this dimension across development and across the types of evaluations; 3) to assess its predictive value for future qualification as a service dog (i.e. guide dog, assistance dog, dog for ASD children, or breeder); and 4) to investigate the impact of sex and breed on the likelihood of achieving qualification as a service dog and on Fear/Reactivity at 1 year of age. The analysis revealed the presence of a Fear/Reactivity personality dimension in dogs across the three evaluations. The results confirmed the consistency of this dimension between 6 and 12 months of age (QFFs), and in the behavioural evaluation at 1 year of age. Furthermore, the Fear/Reactivity dimension significantly predicted dog disqualification from training programmes and also the subtype of the programme in which dogs will be certified. Finally, the results indicated that a dog’s Fear/Reactivity and likeliness to qualify in a specific programme varied according to its sex and breed.