3Istituto di Statistica Medica e Biometria GAM – Facoltadi Medicina e Chirurgia, Universita degli Studi, Milan,Italy*Corresponding author: manuela.michelazzi@unimi.it

Many authors have evaluated puppies’ behavior in anattempt to detect adult behavioral disorders earlier in life.Our pilot study aims to investigate puppies’ reactivitytoward and tolerance to novelty and the consistency ofbehaviors between young and adult dogs. Seven tests(tunnel, direct look, sudden noise, retrieval of a busterball, problem solving, bowl removal and approach) wereused to evaluate the reactivity of 32 German shepherddogs at 5, 7 and 9 months of life. From these dogs, 17were chosen to continue the training program into adult-hood (choice-group) and were administered the sametests at 2 years of age. Through observation of the dog’sresponses, the tests aim to assess sociality, exploratoryand retrieving tendency, learning ability, playing apti-tude, and dominance aggression. The behaviors wereranked by degree of reactivity and ranks were used asscores. The effects of gender and group on the 5, 7 and 9months’ reactivity profiles were examined with a repeat-ed-measures model. On the choice-group, the behaviorchanges between 9 and 24 months and their dependenceon gender were examined with an analogous model. Allpuppies became more self-confident between 5 and 9months. At 9 months, scores are higher in males and inthe choice-group. Between 9 and 24 months, self-confi-dence, attentiveness, problem solving and object retrievalscores all improve, whereas playfulness decreases. At 24months, all or nearly all dogs exhibited their highestscore in most tests, so that the correlation between scoresat 9 and 24 months could not be computed or was onlyslightly different.Key words: temperament; test; dog; reactivity; puppy

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GROUP 1 (SHEEP DOGS AND CATTLE DOGS EXCEPT SWISSCATTLE DOGS) AND GROUP 2 (PINSCHER ANDSCHNAUZER, MOLOSSIANS AND SWISS CATTLE DOGS):BREEDS WITH DIFFERENT BEHAVIORAL PROFILES?STATISTICAL DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS ON THE BEHAVIOROF THESE BREEDSL. Marchionne1,*, C. Sgarbi2, L. Bergamasco3

1Pescara, Italy2Torino, Italy3Dipartimento di Morfofisiologia Veterinaria, Torino,Italy*Corresponding author: gosdatura@libero.it

In the following study the authors investigated whether dogsin Group 1 and Group 2, according to the “FederationCynologique Internationale” (FCI) subdivision, reallyshowed expected behavioural characteristics specific toeach group that would determine their belonging to one

group or the other. We evaluated 182 dogs from Group 1and 129 from Group 2. Besides testing of the study’s hy-pothesis, other behaviors were investigated as well:

• Relationship with the owners• Socialization with people outside the family• Predatory behavior• Defensive behavior• Interspecific socialization• Fear behavior• Dog’s response to handling

Other variables that also were evaluated included age atadoption (� 3 months, � 3 months,) the dog’s source, thedog’s gender and age (adulthood defined as � 1.5 years.)Results were expressed as percentages and evaluated sepa-rately by group (1 or 2) and then compared to each other.The authors noticed a tendency for each group to showspecific behaviors. Statistical analysis was performed foreach behavioral trait using the Student’s t test. The study’sresults show that dogs in Group 1 seem to be more reservedand wary of strangers and have more difficulties when beinghandled by owners or other people compared to dogs ingroup 2. Furthermore, they show problematic behaviorswhen taken away from the mother and adopted before threemonths of the age. These dogs, in fact, seem to have a moreconflictual relationships with their owners, more difficultiesin socializing with strangers, stronger defense of objects andterritory and greater frequency of fearful behaviors.Key words: breed; behavior; dog; cattle; sheepdog

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IS BREED SPECIFIC LEGISLATION JUSTIFIED?EVALUATION OF THE TEMPERAMENT TEST OF LOWERSAXONYE. Schalke*, S. A. Ott, A. M. von Gaertner, A. Mittmann,H. HackbarthInstitute for Animal Welfare and Behaviour, University ofVeterinary Medicine Hanover, Hannover, Germany*Corresponding author: schalke@tierschutzzentrum.de

From July 2000, legislation in Lower Saxony restrictedthe keeping of bull terriers, American Staffordshire ter-riers, pit bull terriers and 11 other breeds. Exemption waspossible after successfully completing an especially de-veloped test. The test was analyzed for breed predispo-sition for excessively aggressive signaling or aggressivebehavior in inappropriate situations, difference in behav-ior between breeds and factors differentiating biting fromnon-biting dogs. The test results for 415 dogs were ana-lyzed. The test consisted of veterinary examination,learning test, dog-human-, dog-environment-, and dog-dog-contact bouts, and obedience. Escalation in aggres-sive behavior was scored using a scale of 1 - 7. In thisstudy 38.07% of dogs showed no aggressive behavior(scale value of 1), 61.69% received aggressive behaviorscores of 2 to 5, and 0.24% bit without displaying threat-

91Abstracts