Former laboratory dogs' psychological and behavioural characteristics

Lopresti-Goodman Sm and N Bensmiller
Additional contact information
Lopresti-Goodman Sm: Department of Psychology, Marymount University, Arlington, VA, USA
N Bensmiller: Nick Bensmiller Therapy, New York, NY, USA

Veterinární medicína, 2022, vol. 67, issue 12, 599-610

Abstract: It is becoming increasingly common for laboratories to allow the rehoming of dogs when they are no longer needed. There is no research, however, comparing the characteristics of dogs from laboratories to dogs acquired from more traditional sources for pets. This study used the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ) to compare emotional and behavioural characteristics of 100 former laboratory Beagles who were rehomed to a convenience sample of 244 pet Beagles with no known history of laboratory use. Our results revealed that the former laboratory Beagles exhibited increased fearfulness, attention and attachment behaviours, and more abnormal behaviours than the convenience sample, yet were significantly less aggressive, and likely to chase other animals or escape. Importantly, we also found no significant differences in a majority of the everyday behaviours assessed. Our findings demonstrate dogs rehomed from laboratories form strong bonds with their caregivers, and make equally good companions as their non-laboratory counterparts. Our findings may be helpful in designing appropriate rehabilitation programmes, educating laboratory workers and potential adopters, and support the ongoing efforts to offer these dogs for adoption.

Keywords: adoption; behaviour; canine; distress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://vetmed.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/139/2021-VETMED.html (text/html)
http://vetmed.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/139/2021-VETMED.pdf (application/pdf)
free of charge

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlvet:v:67:y:2022:i:12:id:139-2021-vetmed

DOI: 10.17221/139/2021-VETMED

Access Statistics for this article

Veterinární medicína is currently edited by Ing. Helena Smolová Ph.D.

More articles in Veterinární medicína from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ivo Andrle ().