Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association
The goal of this study was to determine if anxiety, aggression, and fear-related behaviors are mo... more The goal of this study was to determine if anxiety, aggression, and fear-related behaviors are more common in pruritic dogs with atopic dermatitis than nonpruritic, healthy dogs. One hundred forty-one pruritic dogs >1 yr of age with a clinical diagnosis of atopic dermatitis and a >3 mo history of pruritus were recruited. Dog owners completed a behavioral survey (canine behavioral assessment and research questionnaire) and a pruritus scale (pruritus visual analog scale). Pruritic, atopic dogs showed significant increases in fear- and anxiety-related behaviors as well as aggression compared with a large control group of healthy dogs. Stranger-directed aggression, owner-directed aggression, familiar-dog aggression, dog-directed fear, nonsocial fear, touch sensitivity, excitability, and attention-seeking behaviors were all increased in the study group. Trainability was decreased in the study group. Chronically pruritic dogs experience fear and anxiety and are more likely to displa...
A questionnaire survey of 385 UK-based university students was used to investigate whether there ... more A questionnaire survey of 385 UK-based university students was used to investigate whether there was an association between pet keeping in childhood and humane attitudes in young adulthood. Subjects gave detailed, retrospective reports of the pets they had kept during their childhoods, and a variety of attitude scales and open-ended questions were used to measure their current attitudes concerning the welfare of both animals and humans. Higher levels of childhood pet keeping were related to more positive attitudes towards pet animals and greater concerns about the welfare of non-pet animals and humans. Ethical food avoidance practices (eg vegetarianism); membership of animal welfare and environmental organizations were also found to be associated with pet keeping during childhood. Knowledge of the experiences that underlie existing variation in humane attitudes will greatly assist the development of more effective humane education programmes in the future.
This paper reviews the literature on human attitudes to animals, and postulates the existence of ... more This paper reviews the literature on human attitudes to animals, and postulates the existence of two primary motivational determinants of attitudes labelled ‘affect’ and ‘utility’. It also proposes that the relative strengths of these key attitude dimensions are affected by various modifying variables including the specific attributes of the animal, the individual characteristics and experience of the person evaluating the animal, and a range of cultural factors. The role of science as a cultural modifier of human attitudes to animals is also discussed.
Dog ownership has been associated with increased levels of physical activity (PA), including incr... more Dog ownership has been associated with increased levels of physical activity (PA), including increases in total PA and walking time in some but not in all studies. These earlier studies did not consider puppy acquisition, in particular, and were limited to a maximum of 10 months duration. The purpose of the current pilot study was, therefore, to analyze long-term changes in participants’ PA behavior after puppy acquisition. Participants who acquired a puppy from one of nine preselected breeds differing in size and energy level were included. PA was assessed at baseline and 6, 12, 24 and 36 months after puppy acquisition using an online questionnaire. Participants, who were initially included, did not differ in their PA at baseline (n = 38). In the group that completed the trial (n = 11) total PA, leisure time walking, total dog-related PA, and total dog walking increased within the first two years and decreased while remaining above baseline values during the last year, coinciding w...
Dog ownership contributes positively to physical activity (PA). The impact of different dog breed... more Dog ownership contributes positively to physical activity (PA). The impact of different dog breeds and age on PA is less investigated in longitudinal studies. This study aimed to evaluate PA changes in dog owners as their dogs’ ages increased and to explore whether there are differences in PA between owners of different breeds over a three-year period. Owners of different dog breeds were categorized into nine groups according to the perceived energy level and size of the breed. PA was monitored using an online questionnaire for three consecutive years. Linear mixed models (LMM) showed a small, but significant decrease in total PA, leisure time walking, dog-related PA and dog walking over three years. No decreases were found if only participants who attended at all time points were included. In all LMM analyses, a significant relationship between the dog breed and the outcomes of PA were shown. At baseline, dog owners performed different types of activities depending on their dog bre...
Millions of animals are adopted from animal shelters in the United States each year, although som... more Millions of animals are adopted from animal shelters in the United States each year, although some are returned post-adoption, which can decrease both the animals’ chances of future adoptions and the owners’ willingness to adopt again. In this study, we investigated the impact of adopter expectations for ownership and animal behavioral problems on post-adoptive dog returns at a large animal shelter in South Carolina. Between June–September 2021, 132 dog adopters completed a survey about their expectations for ownership through Qualtrics. Twenty-nine adopters returned their dogs to the shelter within three months of adoption, with a median length of ownership of eight days. Owners completed follow-up questionnaires about their perceptions of adoption and dog behavior at two days, two weeks, and four months post-adoption. Categorical principal component analysis revealed three factors pertaining to adopters’ expectations for ownership. Independent t-tests showed returning owners had s...
Unsuccessful animal adoptions are stressful for many owners and may reduce their willingness to a... more Unsuccessful animal adoptions are stressful for many owners and may reduce their willingness to adopt again. The goal of this study was to determine the proportion of return owners who adopted post-return and investigate return characteristics that affected the likelihood of post-return adoption. We analyzed adoption records from a South Carolina animal shelter between 2015 and 2019 (n = 1999) using a logistic regression model including post-return adoption (binary) and return reason, species, animal sex and age. We found one in 10 individuals adopted from the shelter within 12 months of return, and post-return adoption was associated with return reason and species. Returns due to owner-related reasons, such as the owner’s health (OR 0.20, 95% CI 0.07, 0.57) or unrealistic expectations (OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.19, 0.94) were associated with significantly lower odds of post-return adoption. Owners who returned due to the animal’s health exhibited four times greater odds of post-return adop...
C-BARQ fear and aggression trait descriptions (numbers of questionnaire items in parentheses). Ta... more C-BARQ fear and aggression trait descriptions (numbers of questionnaire items in parentheses). Table S2. C-BARQ behavioral phenotypes used in the discovery analysis. Table S3. C-BARQ behavioral phenotypes used to test predictive model. (PDF 480 kb)
The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of demographic and experiential factors... more The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of demographic and experiential factors on first-year veterinary students ’ career choices and attitudes to animal welfare/rights. The study surveyed 329 first-year veterinary students to determine the influence of demographic factors, farm experience, and developmental exposure to different categories of animals on their career preferences and on their attitudes to specific areas of animal welfare and/or rights. A significant male gender bias toward food-animal practice was found, and prior experience with particular types of animals—companion animals, equines, food animals—tended to predict career preferences. Female veterinary students displayed greater concern for possible instances of animal suffering than males, and prior experience with different animals, as well as rural background and farm experience, were also associated with attitude differences. Seventy-two percent of students also reported that their interactions...
Summary of prediction equation. Figure S2. Mouse Gnat3 is highly expressed in the Amygdala and Pi... more Summary of prediction equation. Figure S2. Mouse Gnat3 is highly expressed in the Amygdala and Piriform area. (PDF 542 kb)
A considerable number of adopted animals are returned to animal shelters post-adoption which can ... more A considerable number of adopted animals are returned to animal shelters post-adoption which can be stressful for both the animal and the owner. In this retrospective analysis of 23,932 animal records from a US shelter, we identified animal characteristics associated with the likelihood of return, key return reasons, and outcomes post-return for dogs and cats. Binary logistic regression models were used to describe the likelihood of return, return reason and outcome based on intake age, intake type, sex, breed and return frequency. Behavioral issues and incompatibility with existing pets were the most common return reasons. Age and breed group (dogs only) predicted the likelihood of return, return reason and post-adoption return outcome. Adult dogs had the greatest odds of post-adoption return (OR 3.40, 95% CI 2.88–4.01) and post-return euthanasia (OR 3.94, 95% CI 2.04–7.59). Toy and terrier breeds were 65% and 35% less likely to be returned compared with herding breeds. Pit bull-ty...
Shelter medicine appears to be popular among prospective veterinarians, but there is a shortage o... more Shelter medicine appears to be popular among prospective veterinarians, but there is a shortage of veterinarians entering the field to fill available positions. The reasons for this discordance are not well understand. This study describes veterinary students’ interest in shelter medicine, their perceptions of common duties, and their perceptions of employment attributes in shelter medicine, compared with those of current veterinarians. The sample included 147 first-year students, 155 final-year students, and 221 veterinarians who self-completed an online survey between September 2020 and March 2021. We found high levels of interest in shelter medicine, with 40% of first- and 43% of final-year students indicating they were likely to consider working in shelter medicine. Outreach clinics (84% of first-year students, 86% of final-year students), access-to-care clinics (82%, 83%), and loan forgiveness programs (75%, 64%) encouraged many veterinary students to consider working in shelte...
Abstract Anxiety tends to aggregate in families, and families increasingly include companion anim... more Abstract Anxiety tends to aggregate in families, and families increasingly include companion animals, such as dogs. Based on previous research pointing to a ‘personality fit’ between humans and their companion dogs, this study explored the potential association between owners’ trait anxiety and dogs’ fear and anxiety-related behavior problems, while also testing for mediating and moderating factors. Two hypotheses previously proposed in the literature were here tested: that dogs may respond to their owners’ anxiety directly through emotional contagion, or that owners’ anxiety may affect dogs’ indirectly via (a) owners’ overprotectiveness - thereby restricting the dog's ability to familiarize itself with novel situations - or (b) their use of coercive dog-training methods. A cross-sectional approach was followed with use of an online questionnaire designed to measure owners’ trait anxiety and dogs’ fear and anxiety-related behavior problems, as well as owners’ protective behavior, and dogs’ emotional reactions to their owners’ emotions (i.e., ‘empathic trait’). Data were obtained from 1,172 self-identified dog owners. Results showed a significant positive correlation between owners’ trait anxiety and the severity of their dogs’ fear and anxiety-related behavior. No evidence was found for mediation of this relationship by owners’ protective behavior or their use of coercive training methods. However, the results showed a marginally significant moderation effect above a particular score in dogs’ ‘empathic trait’. This study suggests that owners’ trait anxiety is associated, to some extent, with the occurrence of dogs’ fear and anxiety related behavior problems. The extent to which dogs exhibit an ‘empathic trait’ may explain the strength of this association.
The Equine Behaviour Assessment and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ) was developed to obtain quant... more The Equine Behaviour Assessment and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ) was developed to obtain quantitative data on the domestic equine triad: training, management and behaviour. It can be taken repeatedly, thus collecting longitudinal data to enable evaluation of how changes in a horse’s training and management are reflected in that horse’s behaviour over time and how these changes can impact horse welfare in the longer term. Questionnaire validation and reliability were tested by determining (a) whether an owner’s subjective ratings of their horse’s problematic behaviours or undesirable temperament traits were reflected in the questionnaire scores obtained for that horse (construct validity), (b) whether two respondents, equally familiar with a particular horse, reported comparable scores for that horse through the questionnaire (inter-rater reliability), and (c) whether the same respondent, scoring the same horse after a known interval of time, recorded similar responses (intra-rate...
Abstract The Fe-BARQ is a survey instrument designed to improve understanding of feline behavior ... more Abstract The Fe-BARQ is a survey instrument designed to improve understanding of feline behavior that has been validated within a US population but not within a Spanish one. The Spanish version was translated and subjected to the same validation process, replicating the procedure described in the original research. Exploratory Factor Analysis of 816 questionnaire responses to 100 behavioral questions/items extracted the same 23 distinct factors that were reported in the original questionnaire, measuring most of the more common dimensions of cat behavior. Twenty two of the 23 factors demonstrated adequate–high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha > 0.6). The Spanish version of Fe-BARQ showed good inter- and intra-observer reliability across both extracted factors and items, and strong construct validity, showing a relationship between behavior problems reported by owners and their scale scores, confirming a loss of activity and an increase of inappropriate elimination issues with age, the relationship between predatory behavior and outdoor access, and less tolerance to contact in single cat households than in multicat households. Furthermore, behavioral differences among breeds were also confirmed. These results confirm the validity of the Spanish version of Fe-BARQ for use within a Spanish population.
Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association
The goal of this study was to determine if anxiety, aggression, and fear-related behaviors are mo... more The goal of this study was to determine if anxiety, aggression, and fear-related behaviors are more common in pruritic dogs with atopic dermatitis than nonpruritic, healthy dogs. One hundred forty-one pruritic dogs >1 yr of age with a clinical diagnosis of atopic dermatitis and a >3 mo history of pruritus were recruited. Dog owners completed a behavioral survey (canine behavioral assessment and research questionnaire) and a pruritus scale (pruritus visual analog scale). Pruritic, atopic dogs showed significant increases in fear- and anxiety-related behaviors as well as aggression compared with a large control group of healthy dogs. Stranger-directed aggression, owner-directed aggression, familiar-dog aggression, dog-directed fear, nonsocial fear, touch sensitivity, excitability, and attention-seeking behaviors were all increased in the study group. Trainability was decreased in the study group. Chronically pruritic dogs experience fear and anxiety and are more likely to displa...
A questionnaire survey of 385 UK-based university students was used to investigate whether there ... more A questionnaire survey of 385 UK-based university students was used to investigate whether there was an association between pet keeping in childhood and humane attitudes in young adulthood. Subjects gave detailed, retrospective reports of the pets they had kept during their childhoods, and a variety of attitude scales and open-ended questions were used to measure their current attitudes concerning the welfare of both animals and humans. Higher levels of childhood pet keeping were related to more positive attitudes towards pet animals and greater concerns about the welfare of non-pet animals and humans. Ethical food avoidance practices (eg vegetarianism); membership of animal welfare and environmental organizations were also found to be associated with pet keeping during childhood. Knowledge of the experiences that underlie existing variation in humane attitudes will greatly assist the development of more effective humane education programmes in the future.
This paper reviews the literature on human attitudes to animals, and postulates the existence of ... more This paper reviews the literature on human attitudes to animals, and postulates the existence of two primary motivational determinants of attitudes labelled ‘affect’ and ‘utility’. It also proposes that the relative strengths of these key attitude dimensions are affected by various modifying variables including the specific attributes of the animal, the individual characteristics and experience of the person evaluating the animal, and a range of cultural factors. The role of science as a cultural modifier of human attitudes to animals is also discussed.
Dog ownership has been associated with increased levels of physical activity (PA), including incr... more Dog ownership has been associated with increased levels of physical activity (PA), including increases in total PA and walking time in some but not in all studies. These earlier studies did not consider puppy acquisition, in particular, and were limited to a maximum of 10 months duration. The purpose of the current pilot study was, therefore, to analyze long-term changes in participants’ PA behavior after puppy acquisition. Participants who acquired a puppy from one of nine preselected breeds differing in size and energy level were included. PA was assessed at baseline and 6, 12, 24 and 36 months after puppy acquisition using an online questionnaire. Participants, who were initially included, did not differ in their PA at baseline (n = 38). In the group that completed the trial (n = 11) total PA, leisure time walking, total dog-related PA, and total dog walking increased within the first two years and decreased while remaining above baseline values during the last year, coinciding w...
Dog ownership contributes positively to physical activity (PA). The impact of different dog breed... more Dog ownership contributes positively to physical activity (PA). The impact of different dog breeds and age on PA is less investigated in longitudinal studies. This study aimed to evaluate PA changes in dog owners as their dogs’ ages increased and to explore whether there are differences in PA between owners of different breeds over a three-year period. Owners of different dog breeds were categorized into nine groups according to the perceived energy level and size of the breed. PA was monitored using an online questionnaire for three consecutive years. Linear mixed models (LMM) showed a small, but significant decrease in total PA, leisure time walking, dog-related PA and dog walking over three years. No decreases were found if only participants who attended at all time points were included. In all LMM analyses, a significant relationship between the dog breed and the outcomes of PA were shown. At baseline, dog owners performed different types of activities depending on their dog bre...
Millions of animals are adopted from animal shelters in the United States each year, although som... more Millions of animals are adopted from animal shelters in the United States each year, although some are returned post-adoption, which can decrease both the animals’ chances of future adoptions and the owners’ willingness to adopt again. In this study, we investigated the impact of adopter expectations for ownership and animal behavioral problems on post-adoptive dog returns at a large animal shelter in South Carolina. Between June–September 2021, 132 dog adopters completed a survey about their expectations for ownership through Qualtrics. Twenty-nine adopters returned their dogs to the shelter within three months of adoption, with a median length of ownership of eight days. Owners completed follow-up questionnaires about their perceptions of adoption and dog behavior at two days, two weeks, and four months post-adoption. Categorical principal component analysis revealed three factors pertaining to adopters’ expectations for ownership. Independent t-tests showed returning owners had s...
Unsuccessful animal adoptions are stressful for many owners and may reduce their willingness to a... more Unsuccessful animal adoptions are stressful for many owners and may reduce their willingness to adopt again. The goal of this study was to determine the proportion of return owners who adopted post-return and investigate return characteristics that affected the likelihood of post-return adoption. We analyzed adoption records from a South Carolina animal shelter between 2015 and 2019 (n = 1999) using a logistic regression model including post-return adoption (binary) and return reason, species, animal sex and age. We found one in 10 individuals adopted from the shelter within 12 months of return, and post-return adoption was associated with return reason and species. Returns due to owner-related reasons, such as the owner’s health (OR 0.20, 95% CI 0.07, 0.57) or unrealistic expectations (OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.19, 0.94) were associated with significantly lower odds of post-return adoption. Owners who returned due to the animal’s health exhibited four times greater odds of post-return adop...
C-BARQ fear and aggression trait descriptions (numbers of questionnaire items in parentheses). Ta... more C-BARQ fear and aggression trait descriptions (numbers of questionnaire items in parentheses). Table S2. C-BARQ behavioral phenotypes used in the discovery analysis. Table S3. C-BARQ behavioral phenotypes used to test predictive model. (PDF 480 kb)
The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of demographic and experiential factors... more The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of demographic and experiential factors on first-year veterinary students ’ career choices and attitudes to animal welfare/rights. The study surveyed 329 first-year veterinary students to determine the influence of demographic factors, farm experience, and developmental exposure to different categories of animals on their career preferences and on their attitudes to specific areas of animal welfare and/or rights. A significant male gender bias toward food-animal practice was found, and prior experience with particular types of animals—companion animals, equines, food animals—tended to predict career preferences. Female veterinary students displayed greater concern for possible instances of animal suffering than males, and prior experience with different animals, as well as rural background and farm experience, were also associated with attitude differences. Seventy-two percent of students also reported that their interactions...
Summary of prediction equation. Figure S2. Mouse Gnat3 is highly expressed in the Amygdala and Pi... more Summary of prediction equation. Figure S2. Mouse Gnat3 is highly expressed in the Amygdala and Piriform area. (PDF 542 kb)
A considerable number of adopted animals are returned to animal shelters post-adoption which can ... more A considerable number of adopted animals are returned to animal shelters post-adoption which can be stressful for both the animal and the owner. In this retrospective analysis of 23,932 animal records from a US shelter, we identified animal characteristics associated with the likelihood of return, key return reasons, and outcomes post-return for dogs and cats. Binary logistic regression models were used to describe the likelihood of return, return reason and outcome based on intake age, intake type, sex, breed and return frequency. Behavioral issues and incompatibility with existing pets were the most common return reasons. Age and breed group (dogs only) predicted the likelihood of return, return reason and post-adoption return outcome. Adult dogs had the greatest odds of post-adoption return (OR 3.40, 95% CI 2.88–4.01) and post-return euthanasia (OR 3.94, 95% CI 2.04–7.59). Toy and terrier breeds were 65% and 35% less likely to be returned compared with herding breeds. Pit bull-ty...
Shelter medicine appears to be popular among prospective veterinarians, but there is a shortage o... more Shelter medicine appears to be popular among prospective veterinarians, but there is a shortage of veterinarians entering the field to fill available positions. The reasons for this discordance are not well understand. This study describes veterinary students’ interest in shelter medicine, their perceptions of common duties, and their perceptions of employment attributes in shelter medicine, compared with those of current veterinarians. The sample included 147 first-year students, 155 final-year students, and 221 veterinarians who self-completed an online survey between September 2020 and March 2021. We found high levels of interest in shelter medicine, with 40% of first- and 43% of final-year students indicating they were likely to consider working in shelter medicine. Outreach clinics (84% of first-year students, 86% of final-year students), access-to-care clinics (82%, 83%), and loan forgiveness programs (75%, 64%) encouraged many veterinary students to consider working in shelte...
Abstract Anxiety tends to aggregate in families, and families increasingly include companion anim... more Abstract Anxiety tends to aggregate in families, and families increasingly include companion animals, such as dogs. Based on previous research pointing to a ‘personality fit’ between humans and their companion dogs, this study explored the potential association between owners’ trait anxiety and dogs’ fear and anxiety-related behavior problems, while also testing for mediating and moderating factors. Two hypotheses previously proposed in the literature were here tested: that dogs may respond to their owners’ anxiety directly through emotional contagion, or that owners’ anxiety may affect dogs’ indirectly via (a) owners’ overprotectiveness - thereby restricting the dog's ability to familiarize itself with novel situations - or (b) their use of coercive dog-training methods. A cross-sectional approach was followed with use of an online questionnaire designed to measure owners’ trait anxiety and dogs’ fear and anxiety-related behavior problems, as well as owners’ protective behavior, and dogs’ emotional reactions to their owners’ emotions (i.e., ‘empathic trait’). Data were obtained from 1,172 self-identified dog owners. Results showed a significant positive correlation between owners’ trait anxiety and the severity of their dogs’ fear and anxiety-related behavior. No evidence was found for mediation of this relationship by owners’ protective behavior or their use of coercive training methods. However, the results showed a marginally significant moderation effect above a particular score in dogs’ ‘empathic trait’. This study suggests that owners’ trait anxiety is associated, to some extent, with the occurrence of dogs’ fear and anxiety related behavior problems. The extent to which dogs exhibit an ‘empathic trait’ may explain the strength of this association.
The Equine Behaviour Assessment and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ) was developed to obtain quant... more The Equine Behaviour Assessment and Research Questionnaire (E-BARQ) was developed to obtain quantitative data on the domestic equine triad: training, management and behaviour. It can be taken repeatedly, thus collecting longitudinal data to enable evaluation of how changes in a horse’s training and management are reflected in that horse’s behaviour over time and how these changes can impact horse welfare in the longer term. Questionnaire validation and reliability were tested by determining (a) whether an owner’s subjective ratings of their horse’s problematic behaviours or undesirable temperament traits were reflected in the questionnaire scores obtained for that horse (construct validity), (b) whether two respondents, equally familiar with a particular horse, reported comparable scores for that horse through the questionnaire (inter-rater reliability), and (c) whether the same respondent, scoring the same horse after a known interval of time, recorded similar responses (intra-rate...
Abstract The Fe-BARQ is a survey instrument designed to improve understanding of feline behavior ... more Abstract The Fe-BARQ is a survey instrument designed to improve understanding of feline behavior that has been validated within a US population but not within a Spanish one. The Spanish version was translated and subjected to the same validation process, replicating the procedure described in the original research. Exploratory Factor Analysis of 816 questionnaire responses to 100 behavioral questions/items extracted the same 23 distinct factors that were reported in the original questionnaire, measuring most of the more common dimensions of cat behavior. Twenty two of the 23 factors demonstrated adequate–high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha > 0.6). The Spanish version of Fe-BARQ showed good inter- and intra-observer reliability across both extracted factors and items, and strong construct validity, showing a relationship between behavior problems reported by owners and their scale scores, confirming a loss of activity and an increase of inappropriate elimination issues with age, the relationship between predatory behavior and outdoor access, and less tolerance to contact in single cat households than in multicat households. Furthermore, behavioral differences among breeds were also confirmed. These results confirm the validity of the Spanish version of Fe-BARQ for use within a Spanish population.
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Papers by James Serpell