Behavioral differences of Korean native Jindo dogs based on sex

Abstract

Subjective beliefs in the personality of a dog based on its breed may result in misinterpretation or scientific bias. Because it has been proven that breed can influence the dog's personality, it is important to determine other genetic factors influencing canine behaviors. The present study investigated behavioral differences of the Jindo dogs based on sex. Thirty-three adult Jindo dogs (21 males and 12 females) were tested in 9 different behavioral subtests, and their behavioral responses to the subtests were recorded using two video cameras. A single blinded observer reviewed the videos and scored the dogs' behaviors from 1-5 based on: sociability, fear, aggression, and submission behaviors. Using the score data, a principal component analysis extracted primary factors: "defensive reactivity toward strangers and novel stimuli," "nonaggressive reactivity toward a dog and humans," "social reactivity toward friendly humans and novel stimuli," "offensive reactivity toward fear evoking humans and novel stimuli," "social reactivity toward fear evoking humans," and "nonaggressive and social reactivity toward testing stimuli." The male and female dogs were compared for the extracted six factors using multivariate analysis of variance. Based on the results, the female Jindo dogs, in contrast to the male dogs, exhibited significantly higher intensity of "nonaggressive reactivity to stranger and novel stimuli." The results of this study could provide objective information for researchers of canine behavior and supplement baseline data on the Jindo breed. In addition, insight into the Jindo's personality could help potential owners and professional breeders to adapt their training method and expectations of their dogs. (c) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.