Variations in Canine Behavioural Characteristics across Conventional Breed Clusters and Most Common Breed-Based Public Stereotypes
Abstract
:Simple Summary
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Ethical Statement
2.2. Study Design and Data Collection
2.3. Dog Personality Questionnaire (DPQ)
2.4. Clustering the Dog Breeds
2.5. Statistical Analyses
3. Results
3.1. Demography
3.2. Variations in Aggression, Fearfulness, and Trainability between Different Breed Group Clusters
3.2.1. Differences among Breed Categories in Aggressiveness towards People and Animals
3.2.2. Differences among Breed Categories in Fearfulness
3.2.3. Differences among Breed Categories in Responsiveness to Training
3.3. Sex Differences in Dogs in Aggressiveness towards People and Animals
3.4. Stereotypes Associated with Breed-Specific Behaviour
4. Discussion
4.1. Variations in Aggression, Fearfulness, and Trainability between Different Breed Group Clusters
4.1.1. Variations in Aggressiveness Levels towards People and Animals across Different Breed Categories
4.1.2. Variations in Fearfulness across Different Breed Categories
4.1.3. Variations in Responsiveness to Training across Different Breed Categories
4.2. Sex Variations in Dogs in Aggressiveness towards People and Animals
4.3. Stereotypes Linked to Behaviour Specific to Certain Breeds
4.4. Limitations of the Study
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Breed Category Title | Description and Historical Function | Number of Breeds | Number of Individuals | % | Characteristic Behavioural Traits | Examples of Breeds Represented in the Research |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Companion breeds | Companionship | 42 | 347 | 27 | High sociability (friendly), loyal | Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Maltese, Poodle, Yorkshire terrier |
Mix-breeds | Non-specified breed, unknown origin, mixture of two or more breeds | - | 168 | 13 | Diverse traits, higher prevalence of fearfulness, aggressiveness, etc. | Mixture of various breeds, often living feral and reproducing freely, or living in shelters |
Hound (hunting) breeds | Hunting of prey | 29 | 151 | 12 | Excellent scent, alert, active | Basset hound, Beagle, Dachshund, Weimaraner |
Guarding breeds | Bred for work (police dogs, etc.) | 7 | 215 | 16 | High trainability, alert, intelligent, protective | Belgian shepherd dog, German shepherd dog, Hovawart |
Herding breeds | Driving livestock, used for control of other animals | 18 | 185 | 14 | Trainability, intelligence, herding ability, protective | Australian Shepherd, Bernese Mountain dog, Border collie, Shetland sheepdog, Slovakian Cuvac |
Potentially aggressive breeds * | Category designed according to the legislation | 19 | 243 | 19 | Higher aggressiveness, resistance, boldness * | American Staffordshire terrier, Bullmastiff, Doberman, English Bull terrier, Rottweiler |
Summary | 115 | 1309 | 100 |
Basic Characteristics of the Study Subjects | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sex | n | % | Neutered Status | n | % |
Male | 537 | 41.00 | Yes | 216 | 16.50 |
Female | 772 | 59.00 | No | 1093 | 83.50 |
Housing conditions | n | % | Pedigree status | n | % |
Only indoors | 474 | 36.20 | Yes | 824 | 62.90 |
Only outdoors | 454 | 34.70 | No | 485 | 37.10 |
Indoors and outdoors | 381 | 29.10 | Total number of dogs | 1309 | 100 |
Category of Dog Breeds | Fearfulness | Aggression Towards People | Responsiveness to Training | Aggression Towards Animals | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Companion breeds (N = 347) | Mean | 3.3885 | 2.3802 | 3.6746 | 3.7291 |
SD | 0.6179 | 0.9008 | 0.5561 | 0.7545 | |
Hound breeds (N = 151) | Mean | 3.2967 | 2.2987 | 3.7046 | 3.9815 |
SD | 0.6478 | 0.8136 | 0.5252 | 0.7358 | |
Herding breeds (N = 185) | Mean | 3.1846 | 2.0373 | 3.6724 | 3.4771 |
SD | 0.5378 | 0.5730 | 0.4425 | 0.6674 | |
Guarding breeds (N = 215) | Mean | 3.0337 | 2.4033 | 3.7642 | 3.9451 |
SD | 0.4525 | 0.7972 | 0.4683 | 0.7462 | |
Mix-breeds (N = 168) | Mean | 3.6024 | 2.5232 | 3.6970 | 3.8341 |
SD | 0.6865 | 0.9571 | 0.6073 | 0.7952 | |
Potentially aggressive breeds (N = 243) | Mean | 3.0593 | 2.1877 | 3.6815 | 3.8156 |
SD | 0.5145 | 0.7713 | 0.5126 | 0.7431 |
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Peťková, B.; Skurková, L.; Florian, M.; Slivková, M.; Dudra Kasičová, Z.; Kottferová, J. Variations in Canine Behavioural Characteristics across Conventional Breed Clusters and Most Common Breed-Based Public Stereotypes. Animals 2024, 14, 2695. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14182695
Peťková B, Skurková L, Florian M, Slivková M, Dudra Kasičová Z, Kottferová J. Variations in Canine Behavioural Characteristics across Conventional Breed Clusters and Most Common Breed-Based Public Stereotypes. Animals. 2024; 14(18):2695. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14182695
Chicago/Turabian StylePeťková, Barbara, Lenka Skurková, Martin Florian, Monika Slivková, Zuzana Dudra Kasičová, and Jana Kottferová. 2024. "Variations in Canine Behavioural Characteristics across Conventional Breed Clusters and Most Common Breed-Based Public Stereotypes" Animals 14, no. 18: 2695. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14182695
APA StylePeťková, B., Skurková, L., Florian, M., Slivková, M., Dudra Kasičová, Z., & Kottferová, J. (2024). Variations in Canine Behavioural Characteristics across Conventional Breed Clusters and Most Common Breed-Based Public Stereotypes. Animals, 14(18), 2695. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14182695