Abstract
Undesirable behavior is a leading cause of canine relinquishment. Relinquishing owners could provide valuable information about their dog's behavior, although the reliability of their reports has been questioned by the sheltering community. This study aimed to investigate (a) whether relinquishing owners' reports of dog behavior differed based on the behavioral screening method; (b) whether relinquishing owners' reports were impacted by the confidentiality of their responses; and (c) whether relinquishing and non-relinquishing owners perceived the behavior of their dogs differently. The sample included 427 relinquished dogs from three animal shelters and 427 pet dogs, matched for sex and breed. Owners responded to a direct question about whether they were experiencing problems with their dog's behavior and completed the mini C-BARQ which includes 42 questions about the frequency and severity of specific canine behaviors in various circumstances. More than two-thirds (69.3%) of relinquishing owners indicated they were not experiencing problems with their dog's behavior when asked directly, compared with only 34.5% of pet owners. Yet, relinquished dogs had significantly higher (less desirable) scores than pet dogs across most C-BARQ scales. The disparity between C-BARQ scores and the single, direct question does not appear to be the result of deliberately biased reporting by relinquishing owners as the perceived confidentiality (or lack thereof) did not affect their responses (X2 = 1.44, p = 0.97). It is possible that relinquishing owners had less understanding of dog behavior and did not recognize behavior problems as a problem. Our findings support the use of standardized behavioral questionnaires, such as the mini C-BARQ, to collect behavioral information from owners at the time of relinquishment and highlight opportunities for animal shelters to reduce relinquishment by assisting owners to recognize and manage behavioral problems.
Highlights
Undesirable behavior is prevalent among pet dogs, with 72–85% of dogs estimated to exhibit at least one type of problem behavior [1, 2]
Four-hundred-forty-three relinquishing owners completed the mini Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ), 16 owners were excluded as they had a length of ownership
Pet dog owners had owned their dogs for significantly longer at the time of completing the C-BARQ compared with relinquishing owners (U = 59,274.50, Z = −4.85, p < 0.001, Table 1)
Summary
Undesirable behavior is prevalent among pet dogs, with 72–85% of dogs estimated to exhibit at least one type of problem behavior [1, 2]. These behaviors may reflect normal canine behavior that owners find undesirable, such as barking, or they may arise from medical or behavioral pathology, such as generalized anxiety disorder or compulsive behavior [3]. Problem behaviors have been associated with reduced owner attachment and satisfaction [8,9,10,11] which may threaten the human-animal bond and place the dog at increased risk of relinquishment as behavioral issues are a leading cause of canine relinquishment worldwide [12,13,14]. In which animals are returned to the shelter post-adoption, can be attributed to behavioral issues [15,16,17]
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