Every dog is a good dog . Some are just near helper than others , and now animal behaviour expert have design a newfangled test that can avail distinguish them early . The researchers published their findings in the journalPLOS One .
Service dog constitution like Guide Dog UK breed lots and tons of puppies every twelvemonth . But not all those puppies will become guide andiron . Not all puppieswantto be , says lede researcher Naomi Harvey of Nottingham University .
" If you ’ve ever have dogs you will know that every hound is unlike , " Harveysaidin a assertion . " They have their own eccentric and personality , which are hard act upon by their life experience . "
The sooner service dog trainers can split the service hound candidates from the plain old lie down - on - the - lounge - and - tommyrot puppies , the better off everyone will be . Being a good avail dog requires more than just an aptitude for education ; the dogs also have to be calm , focussed , and cool under atmospheric pressure . But accurately determining each pup ’s predisposition has been a challenge .
So Harvey and her colleagues created the Puppy Training Supervisor Questionnaire ( PTSQ ) , a behavioral assessment that lets dog trainer get a firm yes or no for each puppy in their care . The questionnaire examines seven key areas of each heel ’s personality : adaptability , body sensitivity , distractibility , irritability , world-wide anxiety , trainability , and stair anxiousness .
The researchers work with Guide Dogs UK to beta test the questionnaire on 1401 would - be guide wienerwurst . They used the PTSQ when the dogs were five , eight , and 12 month old , then followed up later on to see how each dog-iron had fared .
More than one-half ( 58 percentage ) of the dogs in the study grew up to qualify as guide frank . About one - fourth ( 27 pct ) were just not swerve out for the work , personality - wise , and the others were disqualified for wellness reasons .
The trial accurately spotted pocket-size subsets of those next inspection and repair dogs ( 8.5 percent ) and future dropout ( 8.4 percent ) . While those results may not be overwhelmingly telling , the questionnaire is gaudy , spry , and well-fixed to administer , and it is progress toward more exact showing mental test .
Chris Muldoon , the inquiry development manager for Guide Dogs UK , aver : " This tool , and the wider inquiry projection , is increase our reason of domestic dog behavior and disposition to make informed decisions that will shape and ameliorate our training procedure . "
