Development and Validation of a Method for Assessing Individual Behavioral Characteristics of a Domestic Dog (Canis lupus familiaris) by Online Survey of Owners

Assessment of individual behavioral characteristics (IBC) of domestic dogs is of both fundamental and practical interest to researchers. We described in this work the development and assessment of the reliability of a methodology for assessing IBC based on an online survey of owners who did not have special training. Four thousand five hundred thirty respondents took part in the survey. The questionnaire included 20 questions, which were rated on a Likert scale. Using the factor analysis we identified 6 factors, by which the IBC of different breed groups were compared according to the FCI classification, and the prognostic role of breed in determining differences in the IBC of dogs was assessed. A comparison of the data from our questionnaire with similar ones obtained in the United States and Japan (Q-BARK) showed that the identified factors generally coincided (Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.73, which indicated sufficient reliability of the methodology), although the questions for the Russian audience were formulated differently. Thus, this questionnaire can be used to assess the IBC, the formation of a modern behavioral portrait of a particular breed, its compliance with existing standards, as well as changes that occur as a result of the lack of selection, for example, for working qualities.