Aggressive behaviour is affected by demographic, environmental and behavioural factors in purebred dogs
Abstract Aggressive behaviour is an unwanted and serious problem in pet dogs, negatively influencing canine welfare, management and public acceptance. We aimed to identify demographic and environmental factors associated with aggressive behaviour toward people in Finnish purebred pet dogs. We collec...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2021-05-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88793-5 |
| _version_ | 1818754104309055488 |
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| author | Salla Mikkola Milla Salonen Jenni Puurunen Emma Hakanen Sini Sulkama César Araujo Hannes Lohi |
| author_facet | Salla Mikkola Milla Salonen Jenni Puurunen Emma Hakanen Sini Sulkama César Araujo Hannes Lohi |
| author_sort | Salla Mikkola |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Aggressive behaviour is an unwanted and serious problem in pet dogs, negatively influencing canine welfare, management and public acceptance. We aimed to identify demographic and environmental factors associated with aggressive behaviour toward people in Finnish purebred pet dogs. We collected behavioural data from 13,715 dogs with an owner-completed online questionnaire. Here we used a dataset of 9270 dogs which included 1791 dogs with frequent aggressive behaviour toward people and 7479 dogs without aggressive behaviour toward people. We studied the effect of several explanatory variables on aggressive behaviour with multiple logistic regression. Several factors increased the probability of aggressive behaviour toward people: older age, being male, fearfulness, small body size, lack of conspecific company, and being the owner’s first dog. The probability of aggressive behaviour also differed between breeds. These results replicate previous studies and suggest that improvements in the owner education and breeding practices could alleviate aggressive behaviour toward people while genetic studies could reveal associated hereditary factors. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T05:17:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-af6a02f5e8a9452da476391b5005fdcc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T05:17:57Z |
| publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-af6a02f5e8a9452da476391b5005fdcc2022-12-21T21:19:44ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222021-05-0111111010.1038/s41598-021-88793-5Aggressive behaviour is affected by demographic, environmental and behavioural factors in purebred dogsSalla Mikkola0Milla Salonen1Jenni Puurunen2Emma Hakanen3Sini Sulkama4César Araujo5Hannes Lohi6Department of Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of HelsinkiDepartment of Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of HelsinkiDepartment of Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of HelsinkiDepartment of Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of HelsinkiDepartment of Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of HelsinkiDepartment of Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of HelsinkiDepartment of Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of HelsinkiAbstract Aggressive behaviour is an unwanted and serious problem in pet dogs, negatively influencing canine welfare, management and public acceptance. We aimed to identify demographic and environmental factors associated with aggressive behaviour toward people in Finnish purebred pet dogs. We collected behavioural data from 13,715 dogs with an owner-completed online questionnaire. Here we used a dataset of 9270 dogs which included 1791 dogs with frequent aggressive behaviour toward people and 7479 dogs without aggressive behaviour toward people. We studied the effect of several explanatory variables on aggressive behaviour with multiple logistic regression. Several factors increased the probability of aggressive behaviour toward people: older age, being male, fearfulness, small body size, lack of conspecific company, and being the owner’s first dog. The probability of aggressive behaviour also differed between breeds. These results replicate previous studies and suggest that improvements in the owner education and breeding practices could alleviate aggressive behaviour toward people while genetic studies could reveal associated hereditary factors.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88793-5 |
| spellingShingle | Salla Mikkola Milla Salonen Jenni Puurunen Emma Hakanen Sini Sulkama César Araujo Hannes Lohi Aggressive behaviour is affected by demographic, environmental and behavioural factors in purebred dogs Scientific Reports |
| title | Aggressive behaviour is affected by demographic, environmental and behavioural factors in purebred dogs |
| title_full | Aggressive behaviour is affected by demographic, environmental and behavioural factors in purebred dogs |
| title_fullStr | Aggressive behaviour is affected by demographic, environmental and behavioural factors in purebred dogs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Aggressive behaviour is affected by demographic, environmental and behavioural factors in purebred dogs |
| title_short | Aggressive behaviour is affected by demographic, environmental and behavioural factors in purebred dogs |
| title_sort | aggressive behaviour is affected by demographic environmental and behavioural factors in purebred dogs |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88793-5 |
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