SHELTER DOG TEMPERAMENT AND ITS INFLUENCE ON LEARNING OF BASIC COMMANDS AND ADOPTION RATE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58210/fprc3366Resumen
This article's objective was to verify the influence of rescued dogs’ temperament on
basic commands learning and adoption rates. Thus, 30 dogs were evaluated.
Temperament data was collected employing the focal animal sampling method in three
different environments. A 7-item selection of training commands was also applied in
both basic obedience and retrieval tasks to improve dogs’ overall individual
performance over time. The principal component analysis followed by Spearman’s
correlation coefficient was used to analyze dog temperament scores for the adoption
rate and the time dogs took to learn each training command. Lay down was positively
correlated with stay (r=0.4, p<0.02), paw give (r=0.5, p<0.002) and crawl (r=0.4,
p<0.009). Adoption rate was negatively correlated with lay down (r=-0.54, p<0.02), stay
(r=-0.8, p<0.03) and crawl (r=-0.8 p<0.05). The time dogs took to learn specifics
training commands was an important indicator that reflects their temperament and
influences the adoption rate.