Dog Behavior Record

signs of fearfulness and/or aggression

by Pam Green, © 2004, 2005

 
I have modified this table from an evaluation form published in Dr Karen Overall DVM's text "Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals" and used at the University of Pennsylvania Vet School to enable clients to evaluate dogs for signs of aggression. I modified the table to include signs of fearfulness and signs of calm or happy acceptance. This chart can be used by Rescuers to insist that owners surrendering dogs give a detailed an honnest report of potential behavior problems. It could also be used in the foster home to evaluate the dog and to measure progress. It could be used by an owner who is preparing to seek help from a dog behaviorist , or used to monitor progress of treatment.
I prepared this form for Rescue use in Bouvier Club of Northern California, hence the specific local references to the Marin Humane Society and to the U.C. Davis Vet Med Teaching Hospital. In other locations, substitute any equally qualified professional level resource. Any dog showing the more serious signs of aggression MUST be seen by a board certified Veterinary Behaviorist or by a certified Applied Animal Behaviorist who is well experienced in dealing with canine aggression problems. Some sites giving listings of such qualified specialists are given on my Farewell page.
 
The evaluation form itself can take a while to load, but it should be ready by the time you have read the introductory material.
I appologize that you may have to scroll horizontally to read this chart. I know everyone hates to have to scroll horizontally, but sometimes there is no choice in order to get in all the needed columns. If your browser allows you to reduce or enlarge overall size, reducing size below 100% may eliminate the need to scroll horizonally. Likewise changing your font size to a smaller one, if that remains readable. In printing , set up your page to print landscape mode, ie width greater than height. Sorry about this. In Word, I had the reaction column headings set up to go vertically, but HTML does not allow that. Maybe I will get around to making a PDF version you can download.
Notice that the reaction headings are color coded. The accepting reactions are coded light green (pale grey on greyscale monitor). The fearful reactions are coded light yellow (white on a greayscale monitor). Be aware that fear can easily lead active self-defensive aggression and thus to a bite if the freezing or fleeing reaction does not cause the threat percieved by the dog to go away. The "freeze / stiffen" reaction is coded light orange because it could be fearful or aggressive ; many people fail to notice this reaction, but it is well worth noticing ! The aggressive reactions are coded in a lighter pink for the serious warning reactions and darker pink for the most seriously aggressive reactions. Of course a "snap" can range from one that misses by many inches, in which case it is a very serious warning that was absolutely intended to miss, to one that misses by fractions of an inch, in which case either it was intended to miss or the target moved very swiftly to avoid a bite. A "bite" can range from a very light contact that was not intended to hurt , but merely to protest, to a totally serious bite that sends the recipient to the Emergency Room for extensive repairs. If you are sufficiently alert to signs in the yellow, orange, and light pink sections, you can avoid triggering the dangerous dark pink ones; reactions in any of these sections mean that the dog will need to be carefully desensitized and counter-conditioned in regard to that particular situation or stimulus and to similar ones until his reactions are consistantly in the green "accepting" section, or else the dog's life must be managed to prevent that particular situation and similar ones from ever occurring.

 
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CANINE BEHAVIOR RECORD

to be filled out by ALL surrendering owners

(actually can be used by any owner or foster home)

Purpose :

The purpose of this record is to help detect, evaluate, and design treatment for any behavior problems your dog may have. If you are unwilling to fill out this form in complete truthfulness, Rescue will be unable to accept this dog. This information may be shared with the dog's eventual adopter.

For those dogs whose history includes evidence of aggression, we may also require you to participate in and pay for an evaluation session at the Marin Humane Society or other expert testing situation or we may require you to participate in and pay for consultation and treatment at the Behavior Services of the UC Davis Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital in order to enable us to make a decision as to whether or not this dog is rehabilitatable for placement.

We realize that filling out this evaluation is difficult and time consuming, but we have had an unfortunate case in which a surrendering owner concealed the fact that the dog had bitten someone (seriously enough for an insurance settlement to have to be made). Although that dog seemed quite normal and friendly during foster care , after adoption the dog bit someone else. The former owner is now being sued. The dog of course was ultimately euthanized (killed).

We are willing to do rehabilitative work for dogs with many kinds of problems, if we have an appropriately skilled foster home and if we have hope that the problem can be rehabilitated or managed safely so the dog is adoptable.

In the event that we are unable to accept your dog into our program because the dog's existing problems make it an unacceptable risk to the foster home or the future adopter, we strongly urge you to take the dog to consultation and behavioral treatment at the Behavior Services of the UC Davis Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital or to a similarly qualified source of help, ie with a board certified Veterinarly Behaviorist or with a certified Applied Animal Behaviorist. Sometimes a dedicated and loving owner can rehabilitate the dog with this expert help. In any case , you will need professional advice as to how you should modify your training and management practices so as to avoid creating similar problems with another dog in the future.

I , the owner, agree to these terms and have answered all questions honestly :

Owners signature : __________________________________________________

date : _______________

 
 

Instructions for filling out form :

The "SITUATION" column describes an event that may or may not have ever happened to the dog while in your ownership.

Some of these situations occur very often in most normal homes, and some occur rarely or not at all.

Human means any human including a child. Dog’s person means any human in the dog’s family. Child means anyone under age of 18. Stranger means anyone dog does not know well. Try to make note of what category of human is most often involved in any of the undesirable reactions; if it is a child try to note the age and sex of the child ; if adult, try to note the sex of the adult.

The "HOW OFTEN ?" column is to record whether the situation described in the "SITUATION" column has occurred N = never (0r at last never observed by you), 1 = once, R = rarely (ie a few instances, probably 3 or less) , or C = commonly ( = often).

The "DOG'S REACTION" sub-columns describes the dog's reaction to this event. For each and every reaction you have observed, please note N = never, 1 = once only, R = rarely (ie a few instances, less than a quarter of the times the situation has occurred), and C = commonly (more than a quarter of the times the situation has occurred), and A = always or almost always. Please notice that some of these reactions are desirable ones (indicating calm trusting acceptance), others indicate fearfulness, and some indicate a potential aggression or flagrant aggression problem. Any fear or aggression problem is one must be worked on with methods of desensitization and counter-conditioning to get the dog to the point where he reacts to that type of situation with calm trusting acceptance instead of fear or aggression. His life and the safety of his family depend on it !!!

 
 
SITUATION HOW OFTEN ?
how often situation seen ?		 DOG’s REACTION
(if situation has ever occurred & been seen)

In each sub-column , put N = never, 1 = once, R = rarely, C = commonly ( = often) , or A = almost always
situation
= something to which dog may react

N = never

1 = once

R = rarely

C = often = common

No reaction

(no identified reaction)

Relaxes & accepts

Enjoys situation or asks for more contact

Cowers

Lowers body and/or tucks tail

With-
draws

flees or tries to flee

Freezes
or stiffens

Growls, snarls, or angry bark

Lifts lip
or shows teeth

Snaps
(no skin contact)

Bites
(any skin contact)

Human casually walks past dog while dog is eating (meal or special food)

                     

Human approaches while dog is eating (meal or special food)

                     

Human tries to pick up dish while dog is eating (meal or special food)

                     

Human tries to pick up people food that has fallen to floor while dog is trying to reach that food

                     

Human tries to touch bone, rawhide, or other special food that dog is eating or holding in paws

                     

Human tries to take away bone, rawhide, or other special food that dog is eating or holding in paws

                     

Human tries to touch or take away a toy that dog is playing with

                     

Human tries to touch or take away some item dog has stolen (eg shoe, kleenex, underwear, or whatever)

                     

Human approaches while dog is playing with toy or stolen item

                     

Human approaches or disturbs dog while it is sleeping

                      

Human steps over dog .

                     

Human pushes dog off of sofa, chair, or people bed

                     

Human reaches hand towards dog

                     

Human reaches over dog’s head

                     

Human tries to put on leash and/or collar

                     

Human grabs at dog’s collar or neck

                     

Human pulls on dog’s collar or neck

                     

Human hugs dog around neck

                     

Human pushes down on dog’s shoulders

                     

Human pushes down on dog’s rump

                     

Human tries to get dog to lie down by voice command

                     

Human tries to get dog to lie down by physical pushing

                     

Human tries to get dog to roll over on its back by physical manipulation

                     

Human tries to groom dog’s head , torso, or legs (ie other than feet)

                     

Human touches dog’s feet or uses comb or scissors on dog’s feet

                     

Human clips or tries to clip dog’s toenails

                     

Human tries to bathe dog, including toweling off after bath

                     

Human holds dog by snout and tries to move head back and forth

                     

Human tries to open dog’s mouth or tried to put pills into mouth

                     

Human handles dog’s ears or tries to put medicine in ears

                     

Human stares into dog’s eyes

                     

Human scolds dog in loud voice

                     

Human yells loudly near dog

                     

Human threatens dog with object such as newspaper or with hand

                     

Human hits dog with object held in hand or with hand (accidentally or deliberately)

                     

Human bumps dog with knee or foot (accidentally or deliberately)

                     

Human trips over dog or drops object on or near dog

                     

While dog is lying down human lies behind dog’s back than slips leg over dog’s rear and arm over dog’s shoulders, then rest a bit of weight on both of these (children do this often !)

                     

Human pulls on dog’s ears gently or on dog’s tail gently. (children do this and often not gently)

                     

Baby crying or child shrieking

                     

Dog approached by infant or toddler (child under 2 years)

                     

Dog approached by child 2 to 4 years (familiar or strange child)

                     

Dog approached by child 5 to 7 years (familiar or strange child)

                     

Dog approached by child 8 to 11

                     

Dog approached by child 12 to 16

                     

Dog playing with child 2 to 4

                     

Dog playing with child 5 to 7

                     

Dog playing with child 12 to 16

                     

Dog playing tug of war with any human

                     

Dog playing rough-housing or wrestling type of game with any human

                     

Child sits on dog or attempts to do so (children should not be permitted to do this but they will do it anyway)

                     

Human in wheelchair , or using walker or cane approaches dog

                     

Human in wheelchair , or using walker or cane accidentally bumps into dog

                     

Stranger knocks on door or rings bell at dog's home

                     

Stranger enters house (guest, not burglar)

                     

Stranger in house tries to pet dog

                     

Stranger approaches dog in car at gas station

                     

Dog in car at toll booth

                     

Stranger approaches dog on street while walked by family member

                     

Stranger approaches dog on street while dog tied to fixture, with family member out of sight or some feet distant but in sight

                     

Skateboarder , bicyclist, or jogger passes dog while dog walked on street

                     

Skateboarder , bicyclist, or jogger passes dog while dog free in fenced yard

                     

Skateboarder , bicyclist, or jogger passes dog while dog near window inside house.

                     

Ordinary pedestrians pass while dog free in yard

                     

Another person touches or hugs dog’s person in dog’s presence (consensual touch, not an attack)

                     

Another person speaks loudly to dog’s person in dog’s presence

                     

Another person speaks angrily to dog’s person in dog’s presence

                     

Another person strikes or attacks dog’s person in dog’s presence

                     

A strange dog approaches dog calmly or makes play bow to dog

                     

A strange dog approaches dog in an assertive or aggressive manner

                     

Strange dog passes while dog free in fenced yard

                     

Another dog puts its chin or its paws on/over dog’s shoulders or back

                     

Another dog mounts dog’s rump

                     

Another dog approaches while dog is eating (meal or special food)

                     

Another dog approaches while dog is playing with toy or stolen item

                     

Another dog approaches or disturbs dog while it is sleeping

                     

Cat approaches dog calmly

                     

Cat approaches dog aggressively

                     

Cat runs in presence of dog

                     

Squirrels , rabbits, etc running

                     

During visits to veterinarian

                     

During visits to groomer

                     

During stays at a pet sitter’s home

                     

During visits by a pet sitter to dog’s home in owner’s absence

                     

During visits to boarding kennel

                     

 

 
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site author Pam Green copyright 2003
created 12/7/04 revised 7/20/05
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