Personality in dogs

Abstract

Dogs have an ever-increasing presence in our lives from being a child's best friend to detecting roadside bombs to guiding people with visual impairments. Examining the personalities of these animals can help us to better understand them. This chapter reviews many topics related to dog personality, beginning by examining the structure of dog personality. Studies have found that dog personality consists of two to more than five dimensions with little consensus as to the optimal number of dimensions needed to best describe dog personality. This chapter then examines the reliability and validity of dog personality assessments. Finally, this chapter reviews the evidence for various genetic, biological, and environmental factors related to dog personality and concludes that what we currently know is largely mixed. Future studies on dog personality should further examine several personality dimensions and factors likely associated with dog personality.