Evaluation of an easy-to-use protocol for assessing behaviors of dogs retiring from commercial breeding kennels.

Objective, reliable behavioral tests are needed to refine on-site welfare assessments of dogs housed at commercial breeding (CB) kennels and provide a basis to inform predictions of their behavior when retired from such kennels. This study tested the reliability, construct validity, and applicabilit...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Shanis Barnard, Hannah Flint, Traci Shreyer, Candace Croney
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/1e03aea001674c1a94174942b72b6bcf
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:1e03aea001674c1a94174942b72b6bcf
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1e03aea001674c1a94174942b72b6bcf2021-12-02T20:18:10ZEvaluation of an easy-to-use protocol for assessing behaviors of dogs retiring from commercial breeding kennels.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0255883https://doaj.org/article/1e03aea001674c1a94174942b72b6bcf2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255883https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Objective, reliable behavioral tests are needed to refine on-site welfare assessments of dogs housed at commercial breeding (CB) kennels and provide a basis to inform predictions of their behavior when retired from such kennels. This study tested the reliability, construct validity, and applicability of a protocol for the behavioral assessment of dogs from CB kennels that might be useful in comprehensive welfare assessments of this population. A sample of 447 dogs from 26 CB kennels in the Midwestern US were assessed in their pens. Responses to an approach test (performed on three consecutive days) and a behavioral reactivity test (e.g., traffic cone, toys, umbrella) were recorded. Results showed moderate to perfect (Kw = 0.51-1.00) inter-rater reliability between three independent observers. Approach test-retest analysis showed high correlation of approach test scores on days 1, 2 and 3 (r = 0.85, p<0.0001). Exploratory factor analysis extracted four main factors: Food Motivation (F1), Sociability (F2), Boldness (F3) (e.g., response to novel objects), and Responsiveness (F4) (e.g., response to an umbrella opening) confirming the ability of the test to measure behaviors of interest. All factors showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.81-0.93) further supporting the robustness of the test construct. The demonstrated reliability of this protocol suggests that it may be usefully applied to assessing the behavior of dogs as a component of their welfare assessment in CB kennels. Doing so using even larger sample sizes may yield insights on the effects of housing and management practices on dog welfare while at the kennels, which may also help inform approaches that improve rehoming outcomes for retiring breeding dogs. Practical applications and limitations are outlined.Shanis BarnardHannah FlintTraci ShreyerCandace CroneyPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 8, p e0255883 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Shanis Barnard Hannah Flint Traci Shreyer Candace Croney Evaluation of an easy-to-use protocol for assessing behaviors of dogs retiring from commercial breeding kennels.
description	Objective, reliable behavioral tests are needed to refine on-site welfare assessments of dogs housed at commercial breeding (CB) kennels and provide a basis to inform predictions of their behavior when retired from such kennels. This study tested the reliability, construct validity, and applicability of a protocol for the behavioral assessment of dogs from CB kennels that might be useful in comprehensive welfare assessments of this population. A sample of 447 dogs from 26 CB kennels in the Midwestern US were assessed in their pens. Responses to an approach test (performed on three consecutive days) and a behavioral reactivity test (e.g., traffic cone, toys, umbrella) were recorded. Results showed moderate to perfect (Kw = 0.51-1.00) inter-rater reliability between three independent observers. Approach test-retest analysis showed high correlation of approach test scores on days 1, 2 and 3 (r = 0.85, p<0.0001). Exploratory factor analysis extracted four main factors: Food Motivation (F1), Sociability (F2), Boldness (F3) (e.g., response to novel objects), and Responsiveness (F4) (e.g., response to an umbrella opening) confirming the ability of the test to measure behaviors of interest. All factors showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.81-0.93) further supporting the robustness of the test construct. The demonstrated reliability of this protocol suggests that it may be usefully applied to assessing the behavior of dogs as a component of their welfare assessment in CB kennels. Doing so using even larger sample sizes may yield insights on the effects of housing and management practices on dog welfare while at the kennels, which may also help inform approaches that improve rehoming outcomes for retiring breeding dogs. Practical applications and limitations are outlined.
format	article
author	Shanis Barnard Hannah Flint Traci Shreyer Candace Croney
author_facet	Shanis Barnard Hannah Flint Traci Shreyer Candace Croney
author_sort	Shanis Barnard
title	Evaluation of an easy-to-use protocol for assessing behaviors of dogs retiring from commercial breeding kennels.
title_short	Evaluation of an easy-to-use protocol for assessing behaviors of dogs retiring from commercial breeding kennels.
title_full	Evaluation of an easy-to-use protocol for assessing behaviors of dogs retiring from commercial breeding kennels.
title_fullStr	Evaluation of an easy-to-use protocol for assessing behaviors of dogs retiring from commercial breeding kennels.
title_full_unstemmed	Evaluation of an easy-to-use protocol for assessing behaviors of dogs retiring from commercial breeding kennels.
title_sort	evaluation of an easy-to-use protocol for assessing behaviors of dogs retiring from commercial breeding kennels.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/1e03aea001674c1a94174942b72b6bcf
work_keys_str_mv	AT shanisbarnard evaluationofaneasytouseprotocolforassessingbehaviorsofdogsretiringfromcommercialbreedingkennels AT hannahflint evaluationofaneasytouseprotocolforassessingbehaviorsofdogsretiringfromcommercialbreedingkennels AT tracishreyer evaluationofaneasytouseprotocolforassessingbehaviorsofdogsretiringfromcommercialbreedingkennels AT candacecroney evaluationofaneasytouseprotocolforassessingbehaviorsofdogsretiringfromcommercialbreedingkennels
_version_	1718374272844431360

Evaluation of an easy-to-use protocol for assessing behaviors of dogs retiring from commercial breeding kennels.

Ejemplares similares