Skal du i parken, kjenn hunden din

[Hermes]

In writing a summary of dog park law, Fran Breitkopf and I noted that dog park sociology would inevitably become a topic for scientific journals. We were thinking about what dog parks mean for people, rather than dogs, but four Canadian researchers (Ottenheimer Carrier et al., citation below) have published a study suggesting that dog parks may be very entertaining places for dogs that score high on Extraversion in personality tests, while probably being threatening and uncomfortable for dogs that score high on Neuroticism.

Cortisol, hydrocortisone, is a steroid hormone produced in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in response to stress and other stimuli. It increases blood sugar through gluconeogenesis and aids in fat, protein, and carbohydrate metabolism. It has been studied in baboons, monkeys, dogs, horses, and birds, though a recent paper notes that the relationships between cortisol, social behaviors, and personality traits have rarely been studied in non-human animals. There have been some cortisol studies of dogs in kennel settings, as well as work situations for trained dogs, including service, therapy, and police dogs, but companion animals have generally been ignored.

Canine Personalities

In an attempt to determine why cortisol levels might increase more in some dogs than others during visits to dog parks, the authors of this study looked for correlations that might occur based on a dog’s personality. Studies of dog personality have often focused on “coping styles.” Quoting Horváth et al., a study of police dogs (cite below), they note:

“[P]olice dogs characterized behaviourally as having an ambivalent coping style showed more signs of acute stress (e.g., low body posture, snout-licking, and paw-lifting) and demonstrated a cortisol surge in response to a threatening stimulus.”

Other assessments of personality are based on analysis of personality traits, such as exploration, boldness, fearfulness, and aggression. For their dog park study, the Canadian researchers chose a personality assessment called the Monash Canine Personality Questionnaire-Revised (MCPQ-R), which uses a rating scale for 26 traits clustered into five personality dimensions:

• Extraversion
• Motivation
• Training Focus
• Amicability
• Neuroticism

Motivation and Training Focus are perhaps unique to domestic dogs in terms of personality measurement. The researchers sought to determine relationships between cortisol, personality, and specific behaviors and postural changes indicative of play, agonism (conflict behavior), and stress, of dogs interacting in dog parks.

Les mer: http://doglawreporter.blogspot.no/2013/05/extraverted-dogs-seem-to-enjoy-dog.html

[Teserere]

Spennende! Nå er det sengetid, men den skal leses senere