TY - JOUR
T1 - Development of the behavioural assessment for re-homing K9's (B.A.R.K.) protocol
AU - Mornement, Kate Mary
AU - Coleman, Grahame John
AU - Toukhsati, Samia Rachael
AU - Bennett, Pauleen Charmayne
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Globally, millions of dogs enter the welfare shelter system each year. Before being made available for adoption dogs are typically screened for their suitability as companions by way of a temperament test or behavioural assessment. In Australia, the majority of dogs that fail their behavioural assessment are subsequently euthanased. Previous research has identified a lack of standardisation, in both the content and methodology, and a lack of scientific validation of such screening procedures. This poses a significant welfare concern for shelter dogs; life and death decisions might be made based on invalid assessments of behaviour. The aim in this study was to develop a standardised shelter dog behaviour assessment, called the behavioural assessment for re-homing K9 s (B.A.R.K.) protocol, implement it into an operational animal shelter and evaluate the reliability and predictive validity of the tool. The B.A.R.K. protocol consists of 12 subtests that aim to imitate everyday situations a pet dog is likely to encounter. The behavioural trait with the highest overall, and statistically significant (n=48, P
AB - Globally, millions of dogs enter the welfare shelter system each year. Before being made available for adoption dogs are typically screened for their suitability as companions by way of a temperament test or behavioural assessment. In Australia, the majority of dogs that fail their behavioural assessment are subsequently euthanased. Previous research has identified a lack of standardisation, in both the content and methodology, and a lack of scientific validation of such screening procedures. This poses a significant welfare concern for shelter dogs; life and death decisions might be made based on invalid assessments of behaviour. The aim in this study was to develop a standardised shelter dog behaviour assessment, called the behavioural assessment for re-homing K9 s (B.A.R.K.) protocol, implement it into an operational animal shelter and evaluate the reliability and predictive validity of the tool. The B.A.R.K. protocol consists of 12 subtests that aim to imitate everyday situations a pet dog is likely to encounter. The behavioural trait with the highest overall, and statistically significant (n=48, P
UR - http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0168159113002669/1-s2.0-S0168159113002669-main.pdf?_tid=676824a2-a27d-11e3-a329-00000aab0f26&acdnat=1393814704_4099591eb4469fb3
U2 - 10.1016/j.applanim.2013.11.008
DO - 10.1016/j.applanim.2013.11.008
M3 - Article
SN - 0168-1591
VL - 151
SP - 75
EP - 83
JO - Applied Animal Behaviour Science
JF - Applied Animal Behaviour Science
ER -