Resource type: Journal-publication resource — attached report version unresolved

About this resource

This resource concerns post-adoption behaviour in dogs that had passed a shelter temperament test. The attached report describes follow-up telephone interviews with adopters and distinguishes barking-only responses from growling, lunging, biting and snapping. It also discusses nonresponse and reporting bias. This is a description of that attached report, not a newly reconstructed abstract of the final journal article.

Publication

E’Lise Christensen; Janet Scarlett; Michael Campagna; Katherine Albro Houpt (2007). Aggressive behavior in adopted dogs that passed a temperament test. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 106(1-3), pp. 85–95. DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2006.07.002

Publication and attachment version

The journal publication is Applied Animal Behaviour Science 106(1–3) (2007), 85–95, DOI 10.1016/j.applanim.2006.07.002. The existing attachment is a seven-page report numbered 25–31, with a related title and matching authors. Its precise publication/version provenance has not been established; it must not be called the journal version of record.

Attribution and reuse

The existing file is preserved. No open redistribution licence or version-of-record identity is asserted for it; the publisher link provides the verified journal citation.

Existing summary (provenance unverified; narrowly corrected)

The existing summary is retained below with limited clarifications based on the seven-page attachment (printed pp. 25–31). Its authorship is unverified; it is not presented as an original author abstract or as a summary checked against the journal version of record.

E. Christensen, J. Scarlett, M. Campagna, K. Houpt

The study evaluates the incidence of aggressive behaviors in dogs that passed temperament tests and were subsequently adopted from one shelter. It hypothesizes that certain types of aggression may not be detected during these tests, especially since the shelter environment can mask aggressive tendencies. The research aims to improve understanding and methods of evaluating dogs' behavioral traits to ensure better adoptability predictions.

The shelter records identified 279 dogs adopted between March 2004 and January 2005 from a local animal shelter. Researchers used a modified version of Sternberg's standardized temperament testing protocol. The tests were performed consistently, involving various physical, environmental, and social manipulations. A follow-up telephone interview with adopters, conducted within 13 months of adoption, assessed post-adoption behavior. About 24% of adopters were reached. Sixty-seven eligible dogs had responding owners; one incomplete questionnaire left 66 owner–dog pairs in the final aggression-screening analysis.

Among the 66 owner–dog pairs analyzed, behaviors associated with territorial aggression were reported in over half of the dogs, with most cases falling into the low aggression category. Behaviors associated with predatory aggression were reported in approximately 14% of dogs, primarily in the moderate category. Owner-directed aggression and intra-specific aggression were less common. Overall aggression levels varied, with the majority of dogs displaying low to moderate aggression.

The results suggest that this modified temperament test might not reliably detect all aggressive tendencies in this shelter’s dogs. Barking was considered a potential indicator of aggression, but the authors caution that barking alone could not reliably be distinguished from attention-seeking by owner report. The study's findings highlighted the need for refining evaluation methods. The authors describe improved public safety, shelter reputation, adoption outcomes, and fewer euthanasias of adoptable dogs as goals of refining evaluation, not outcomes measured by this study.

Existing attachment

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