Browsing by Subject "Working dogs"
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Item Examining the relationship between puppy raisers and guide dogs in training(2015-08) Fratkin, Jamie Lynne; Gosling, Sam; Beer, Jennifer S; Hixon, John G; Pennebaker, James W; Serpell, James A; Sinn, David LDogs play a unique role in the lives of humans. Many people form positive relationships with dogs but some do not. In working dogs, the relationship that dogs form with humans is particularly important due to the trust people need to put in their dogs. The aim of this dissertation was examine the relationship between guide dogs in training and the puppy raisers who care for the dogs during the dog’s early life. I developed a questionnaire designed to tap the most important elements of the relationships between puppy raisers and working dogs. Participants filled out the questionnaire when their dogs were approximately 4-months of age (131 participants), 8-months of age (124 participants), and 13-months of age (140 participants). Principal component analyses suggested that the puppy raiser-dog relationship can be divided into five different factors: Anthropomorphism, Obedience, Closeness, Understanding of dog, and Care of dog. I evaluated the degree to which measurements using this instrument generalized across testing occasions (separated by four or five months) and rater perspectives (self vs. other). Most relationship factors (except Closeness) generalized across testing occasions and there was mixed evidence for generalizability across rater perspective. Next, I assessed the criterion validity of the questionnaire with respect to two other measures of relationship skills. One criterion measures was furnished by experts observing the dog and puppy raiser interact in a formal evaluation. The second criterion measure was derived from codings and ratings of videotapes from a portion of the evaluation. The puppy raiser-dog relationship factors of Obedience and Understanding of dog predicted scores on both criterion measures. Finally, I assessed the degree to which characteristics of both the human and the dog predicted the relationship factors. Human characteristics (in particular personality and participant age) influenced most of the relationship factors. Dog characteristics (in particular trainability and attachment) influenced some of the relationship factors (especially Obedience and Understanding of dog). These results can help us to better understand when relationships might succeed and when might fail. Such information can help in many applied contexts where humans and dogs form a relationship.Item Predicting success in a detector-dog program : subjective ratings of puppies and characteristics of handlers(2014-05) Debono, Stephen Nicholas; Gosling, SamDetector-dog organizations continually work to improve their effectiveness. Detector dogs commonly work in partnership with human handlers. Organizations spend considerable amounts of resources selecting both dogs and humans suited for the required duties. This thesis describes two studies. In the first study, we developed and evaluated a subjective dog trait-rating survey to obtain ratings of dogs by the people raising them. In the second study, we examine how human characteristics relate to job performance for professional detector-dog handlers. In working-dog breeding programs, candidate puppies are often placed with volunteer families (puppy raisers) who care for and raise the puppies. These families have extensive opportunities to observe a puppy’s behavior across time so they may be able to make accurate trait evaluations, which could predict subsequent performance. In Study 1, we develop, implement, and evaluate the Puppy Raiser Subjective Survey (PRS Survey) on a population of puppy raisers from a large detector-dog organization (Australian Customs & Border Protection Service; AC&BPS). Analyses identified seven dimensions of personality but a model including these variables was not able to significantly predict working performance. Selecting people who are suited to work as dog handlers is likely to be important to the success of working-dog programs. Detector-dog programs often undergo a resource intensive process to select the best humans for the job. However, there has been scarce research on the types of traits that make one handler more effective than another. In Study 2, we develop, implement, and evaluate an instrument used to identify human characteristics that predict success as AC&BPS detector-dog handlers. We show that job seniority was the strongest predictor of detector-dog handler job performance. We also show intriguing possibilities that participation in a greater number of sports, particularly at competition levels, may correlate with better job performance.