I did it for Obi and got this: The only issue I had with the questionnaire was that barking is labelled as aggression. Now, Obi barks at other dogs when both are on lead and he can't get to them. But it's not aggression, it's excitement and wanting to get to the other dog. Anyway, that is why he got a yellow - he barks but I don't agree with the label for it. Same for barking at people coming to the house - the barking is communication to us based on excitement and wanting to meet the visitors ASAP (like our postman who gets excited greetings, full body wagging and Lambie presentations). Obi does not bark if people come but we are not home. Anyway, not all barking is aggression, just like not all shouting in humans is anger! The incomplete score is because I put NA for some of the items that asked about responses to another dog in the household, as we don't have another dog. But he will eat out of a bowl at the same time as another visiting dog no problems. Apparently I have these behaviours to work on, hehehe:
I've just done it for Max and got yellow bars for chasing (not a surprise!) and touch sensitivity. He loves us stroking and fussing him but does not like strangers touching him and will back away. Is this very unusual in a young lab? I'm quite pleased we only got two yellow bars although we did also get serious concerns for rolling in smelly things as well .
I think it's fair enough that Max doesn't not enjoy being handled/touched by people he does not yet know. I would not see that as strange at all, even if most Labs aren't bothered much by it.
Just done one for Lady but can't upload it as I'm apparently not authorised to do attachments. I'll have another go later.
Yes I know, and I thank my lucky stars every day - she's not perfect - still won't deliver a retrieve to the hand - but she's good enough for me. When Juno and Jen, our trainer's dog, were young puppies (there's a month between their ages) we used to have to check that we had the right puppy in the car as Rosanne (our trainer) wanted to swap as Juno was such a good girl . Just as well they have different eye colours as we would never tell them apart at first glance otherwise.
Thanks for highlighting this Julie. Harv's chart : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...or-harvey.jpeg
Really strange how non social fear turns yellow when it's below breed average (and separation...)...Harv is actually a completely green dog.
Oh dear, they really think Maisie has some troubles apparently… She showed up quite yellow for a lot of the fear ones as she does have some nervousness/fear issues she is working on, I knew that, high for chasing, energy and excitability… I don't know if I marked everything to the right level as it seems they feel some things are a concern that aren't really to me. Here is her concerning behaviours list: Escaping/roaming: moderate concern Coprophagia (eating feces): moderate concern Chewing: serious concern Begging: moderate concern Food stealing: moderate concern Pulling on leash: moderate concern Hyperactivity: moderate concern Staring: moderate concern Tail-chasing: moderate concern Barking: moderate concern Grooming others: moderate concern Escaping/roaming: I have no idea if she would roam/escape given the chance, but often I do drop her lead in front of the house (at night, no cars, etc) and pretend to walk off inside which makes her jump up and follow me, so I doubt she would … but I don't really know, so I said something in the middle. She has eaten GOOSE POOP (found it DELICIOUS) but her actual poops were actually really good the few days after she ate that poop. Ha. She tried to take a bite out of some other poop on the ground ONCE and I got her to drop it, and she hasn't tried eating other poop she comes across (usually dog poop) so, not super concerned. Chewing… well, she's not sneaky about it and doesn't eat too many bad things. As long as she isn't left out to roam the entire house while I"m gone, it's not super serious. Food stealing - I feel like I marked this wrongly, I can't recall her ever stealing food. Pulling on leash - 90% of the time she's good, 10% when she sees someone/something/somewhere really good, she pulls, and we do the whole red light green light dealio… so, that's a work in progress. Hyperactivity - she's a labrador pup, she's settling down, it'll take awhile. Staring - I guess it was the stares at nothing… I do think she just stares at THINGS that I'm not sure she's looking at… crows… bugs… anything. Tail-chasing - I've heard this is neuroticism, but she just does it when she's wound up and playful and excited... Barking - Haha, yes, I am slightly concerned, but thankfully she tends to just let off a bark or two as an alert or when someone is at the door, or scared. She doesn'ts eem to bark for fun just yet. Grooming - She lets me do it, she does not like it, we're working on it. Everything necessary to get done, I can get done. I usually do her paws at night and she lets me trim a few nails at a time with no bother. So… I feel as if this gave me a bit alarmist results… it really depends what you're worried about. Or perhaps they all are semi-issues, I just have plans/training place to combat them so I don't consider them serious issues at the moment. And as for excitability/hyperactivity, well, I got a high energy pup, that's just who she is, it's not a problem per se, just something we deal with.
It's definitely important to take into account whether or not things are a problem to you Maisie sounds fine to me and, as you say, she is a young dog. It seems to me that you are already onto anything that needs a bit of work (and we all have those! ).
I was thinking about this survey today....and the fact that most of the behaviours it focuses on are negative - over half the categories are about aggression and fear, and most of the rest are not framed positively. Even 'attachment' is 'attachment/attention seeking'. I think this is a reflection of the fact that when humans study animals they focus mostly on agonistic behaviours like fighting and threat displays. But where is the focus on affiliative, pleasure related or positive behaviours like greetings, initiating games, seeking contact etc?
I agree with what you say Rachael. Answering for Juno I took the approach that I hadn't seen her exhibit fear/aggression but that doesn't mean that she wouldn't in certain circumstances but how do you mark for something you can't foretell. The same is true about stealing food, Juno has never stolen food but again it doesn't mean she wouldn't if she had the opportunity - she's a dog and a Labrador! I felt that it was difficult to be objective with some of the questions for example excessive licking. Juno is a very licky girl but I would never describe it as excessive but someone else could. I know Juno's not perfect, but she's a lovely affectionate, friendly girl who is well behaved, and that at the end of day is all I want from my pup
I suppose it does depend on what the questionnaire is for - there is a paper on its development somewhere, but I do think it is aimed at measuring problems. I think, looking at the range of results we have though, most of us own pretty normal labradors and they are generally coming out as being not perfect but not hugely troublesome either.
Yes, I've done a bit more reading about it now and it's mainly 'sold' as a measure of behavioural problems. Fair enough then. That is what it is. But hopefully somewhere someone is doing research on the nice dimensions of dog personality
I can only think that the bar for your dog turns yellow if they are 'significantly different' (who knows how they calculate that) from the average for the breed. So, significantly higher or signficantly lower than the average is considered 'undesirable'. So...what are the criteria/cuttoff scores for yellow, orange and red?
I logged back in to get the text associated with the scores: In the top para it does say 'how far they differ from' the average, not 'how much higher'. If you click on 'interpret this dog's scores' there is some useful info about the apparent meaning of coloured bars, but not about how colours are calculated. That section is worth reading though (I lazily skipped it the first time around).
Oh, that's a good point. If there is a problem with Charlie, it's because he has so little caution. So maybe it's not always desirable to have a low score. That would make sense. It is certainly more problematic for me that Charlie will jump on anything new rather than step back from street cleaning trucks (which it a helpful thing to do, really)
Actually, no, it is not that, that would be stupid (unless applied to a positive factor like 'trainability' where less trainability is bad). So, looking at one dimension, the breed average for Non-social Fear is 0.65. Harvey scored 0.33 and got yellow and Juno scored lower at 0.17 and got green). Instead, it might be the case that the 'zone for yellow' extends below the average. It is not enough to be below average, you have to be far enough below average to be green. BUT then look at Harvey's score for Stranger Directed Aggression - the breed average is 0.40 and Harvey got higher than that at 0.75 yet is green. They do also say that colours are determined by "the likelihood that the differences will present a problem" so I guess that means that some dimensions will more readily produce a yellow bar than others (as they are more 'critical'). Maybe for some dimensions the 'cutoff' for turning yellow is actually above the average. But that'd mean that Stranger Directed Aggression is seen as more ok than Non-social Fear, which I don't get. Why would they not put everything on a standardised scale like a human personality test? OK, I need wine now.
I'd guess it's probably not an error as this thing must've been completed many thousands of times, but you never know. It's a bit of a mystery. It's possibly simple but I just can't work the rules out.
