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13 dog breeds compared: clever Collie, cool Hovawart

4/2/2023

Translation: machine translated

Finnish researchers compared 13 dog breeds using standardised tests. Whether Border Collie or Hovawart, Cocker Spaniel, Malinois or Golden Retriever: they all showed special characteristics.

Golden Retrievers are considered particularly friendly, Collies smart, Hovawarts calm. These and other breed-typical tendencies have been confirmed by a Finnish study involving behavioural tests on around 1,000 dogs, as reported by the research group led by behavioural researcher Saara Junttila from the University of Helsinki in the "Scientific Reports".

The dogs, at least 40 per breed, were between one and eight years old and were mainly kept privately as pets. To motivate them to take part, they were not given any food in the hours beforehand. During the tests, they were then given their favourite snacks or a toy if they were more enthusiastic about it. The series of tests, developed by one of the researchers, was carried out by her and other experienced experimenters according to a standardised protocol. Before the actual test runs, there were practice rounds to familiarise the animals with the tasks.

The first few minutes counted: The animals behaved differently when greeting the unfamiliar female experimenters. Golden Retrievers and Hovawarts were the least fearful or aggressive. However, while the Retriever usually greeted the stranger in a friendly manner, the Hovawart reacted rather indifferently. Anxious or aggressive behaviour was most typical of the Sheltie and the Spanish Water Dog. An excited hello was most common with the Australian Kelpie, and the Labrador Retriever was no stranger to lively greetings either.

Next, an activity meter was attached to the collar. The dog was then allowed to run free and explore the unfamiliar surroundings, a room measuring around 30 square metres. Cocker spaniels and Belgian shepherds (Malinois) went exploring most often, shelties least often; they preferred to stay with their humans.

Now came the actual tests (here are a few video examples). When the favourite snack was in a transparent container, around 80 per cent of the Border Collies deliberately stuck their nose through a designated opening without fail. Among the Malinois, only just under 60 per cent managed this; however, almost all of them managed to walk around a gate within three minutes. In contrast, more than 20 per cent of the Golden Retrievers failed to do so. Among the successful animals, Golden and Labrador Retrievers took the longest; Border Collie, Australian Shepherd, German Shepherd and Malinois were the quickest to reach their destination. According to the activity meter, the Malinois also moved the most and the Hovawart the least.

Among the German and Belgian Shepherds, there were also more animals that tried to open a locked food box on their own. The Kelpie, Golden Retriever, Australian Shepherd and Border Collie were the most likely to seek human help. The animals had two minutes to find a solution - but in vain, as the box could not be opened. Australian Shepherds and Border Collies proved to be particularly persistent: almost 80 per cent of them stayed on the whole time. In the cocker spaniels, more than one in two gave up before the two minutes were up.

Another test was carried out to test the understanding of human gestures. To do this, the humans pointed with an arm, leg or gaze in the direction of one of two pots, in which the dogs always found the hoped-for food. On average, they followed the human cues around 80 per cent of the time, with little difference between the breeds. The differences were greater when the human pointed to the empty pot: overall, around 40 per cent of the animals trusted the wrong cue at least once. Among the Cocker Spaniels, more than one in two did so, while only one in five of the Hovawarts did so.

As in older studies, there were no significant differences in tests of short-term memory and logical thinking, the researchers report. However, they do not rule out the possibility that there could be differences: The sample was neither representative of all dog breeds nor of other countries and cultures, and it was predominantly animals that were active in Finnish dog sports.

Some of the differences could therefore have to do with training effects, Junttila and her colleagues concede. However, they believe that there were also innate differences between the breeds. For example, retrieving and herding dogs orientated themselves very much towards humans, according to the tasks for which they were bred. Herding dogs such as the Border Collie also need a high level of impulse control, while sniffer dogs need to act independently.

"Many of our results reflect the original and current functions of the breeds," the authors write. However, some differences cannot be explained in this way, such as those between different herding dogs or between golden and Labrador retrievers. It is therefore important to "investigate the behavioural differences between individual breeds rather than between breed groups".

However, even if a breed is more or less prone to a certain behaviour: You can't draw conclusions about the individual animal from this. For one thing, the differences within a breed are at least as great as those between them. For another, innate tendencies are overlaid by many other influences. Each dog has its own individual temperament, is shaped by early socialisation experiences and not least by the behaviour of its humans.

Spectrum of science

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Cover image: Shutterstock, Michal Ninger / The character of the Hovawart is often described as confident. (symbolic image)

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