ResearchPrevalence of aggression and fear-related behavioral problems in a sample of Argentine Dogos in Italy
Introduction
Dog bites to people represent a serious public health concern (Sacks et al., 2000, Overall and Love, 2001). All over the world, the most common approach to this problem has been outlawing specific dog breeds or restricting their ownership (American Veterinary Medical Association, 2001). The Argentine Dogo is among the breeds identified most frequently as potentially dangerous in worldwide legislation.
Reliable data on the epidemiology of dog bites are advocated as part of the necessary platform for designing effective strategies for the prevention of bite accidents (Overall and Love, 2001, De Keuster et al., 2006). An analysis of the prevalence of aggressive and fearful behaviors in pet dogs may provide useful information as well. Responsible owners may prevent accidents if they can recognize dangerous situations. Therefore, in the analysis of bite statistics, the risk associated with specific breeds or scenarios may be undervalued. Even if the dog has never bitten anyone the owner's interview may show the dog's tendency to show potentially dangerous behaviors, thus pointing out management areas that should be addressed in dog bite prevention policy. Due to the influence of genetics on behavior (Scott and Fuller, 1965, Houpt and Willis, 2001, Takeuchi and Houpt, 2003), the results of owners' surveys may also highlight specific breed-typical behaviors that may be improved by selective breeding.
Studies regarding the prevalence of canine behavioral problems have been based on data from veterinary and animal behavior practitioners (Landsberg, 1991, Lindsay, 2001, Fatjó et al., 2006), or on information directly collected from pet owners (Campbell, 1986, O'Farrell, 1992). Previous studies suggested that only a small proportion of people owning a dog with problematic behaviors considered the latter severe enough to seek professional advice (Anderson and Vacalopoulus, 1987, O'Farrell, 1992). The reasons for not seeking help may include a lack of information on normal and abnormal dog behavior, a tolerant attitude toward their pets' behavior and, in the case of potentially dangerous dog breeds, the owners' concerns about possibly worsening the public reputation of these breeds. The use of owners as informants for dog behavior is a well-established and reliable way to collect information on dog temperament, based on the main assumption that owners are the persons who know their dogs best (Goodloe and Borchelt, 1998, Serpell and Hsu, 2001, Hsu and Serpell, 2003). Several studies on prevalence of dog behavior problems are based on information provided by owners, nevertheless, to our knowledge, no study focused primarily on a potentially dangerous dog breed. In studies conducted in different dog breeds, 87% of respondent owners in the United States (Campbell, 1986) and 80% in the United Kingdom (O'Farrell, 1992), had experienced some problems with their dogs' behavior. A lower prevalence of behavioral problems was reported by Endenburg and Knol (1994) in a survey among pet owners in the Netherlands: only 28% of participant dog owners reported some problem behaviors in their animals. However, the disparity in these findings could have been due to differences in data collection methods. In some studies researchers asked owners whether their animals behaved in a certain way (Campbell, 1986, O'Farrell, 1992), whereas in others, researchers asked whether owners experienced specific behaviors as a problem (Endenburg and Knol, 1994). When questioned, owners may not report some problem behaviors that would be of interest to researchers if they do not consider them a nuisance.
Prevalence of specific problem behaviors may vary according to sample characteristics and methodologic aspects of the study. Nevertheless, many studies based on owner surveys seem to agree in indicating aggression as the most common canine behavioral problem reported by owners, followed by inappropriate elimination, destructive behavior, fears, excessive vocalization, and pulling on the leash (Beaver, 1994, Borchelt and Voith, 1996, Lindell, 2002).
Although the Argentine Dogo is considered a potentially dangerous breed almost all over the world, to our knowledge, this breed has never been the object of an investigation. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of potentially dangerous behaviors in this breed and to establish whether the presence of these behaviors was associated with any aspect of the dogs' demography. Due to the role of fear in the development of some forms of aggression (Borchelt, 1983, Overall, 1997), our analysis focused on aggression and fear-related behaviors. Veterinarians' and behaviorists' caseloads were not likely to be helpful for studying the prevalence of behavioral problems in Argentine Dogos because the breed is not common in Italy (Bueti, 2003). Therefore, a direct survey of Argentine Dogos' owners was considered the best way to estimate the actual prevalence of behavioral problems in this breed in the Italian context.
Section snippets
Participants
A convenience sample of 94 owners of Argentine Dogos, recruited during dog shows (70 questionnaires) and with the help of the Italian Argentine Dogo Club (D.A.C.I.), which promoted the present research among its members (111 questionnaires), were used for this study. Because of the way the questionnaires were distributed and made available by D.A.C.I., it is impossible to calculate the relative response rate.
The mean age of participating owners was 32.3 ± 9.7 years (range = 14–59 y).
Prevalence of aggression and fear-related problems
The Figure shows aggressive and fear-related behaviors with a prevalence greater than 10% (more than 18 dogs), whereas behaviors occurring in less than 10% of the sample are reported in Table 2. The behaviors with highest prevalence in the sample were predation on small animals (92.0%; 167 dogs) and aggression toward unknown dogs (69.5%; 126 dogs), followed by vigilance of territory perimeter (territorial aggression: 61.3%; 111 dogs). Other territorial behaviors included aggression toward
Owner as informant
Owner participation in this study was on a voluntary basis. Prevalence of behavioral problems may have been different if the entire Argentine Dogo population had been analyzed. In particular, our results might have been biased toward those owners with greater motivation to prove that this breed was no more dangerous than other dog breeds. In this sense data on aggression obtained from owners may be an underestimation of the real prevalence of aggression-related problems because the owners may
Final considerations
The findings that predation, territoriality, and intra-specific conflicts are the most common aggressive behaviors are consistent with selective pressures exerted on this breed, a derivative of fighting dogs that were selected for hunting and guarding ability (Nores Martinez, 1977).
Aggressive behaviors shown by the Argentine Dogos in our study when away from their territory were directed mainly toward other animals, whereas aggression toward people was shown mainly inside the dogs' house.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Perugia University and by the Italian Argentine Dogo Club (D.A.C.I.). The authors wish to thank Fabrizio Tili, Flavia Zullo, Alessio Dini, Michela Rossi, Nicola Falocci, and all the participating dog owners for their invaluable technical assistance. The authors wish also to thank the anonymous reviewers whose comments contributed to the improvement of this manuscript.
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