Karen L. Overall, MA, VMD, PhD, DACVB
Department of Companion Animals
Atlantic Veterinary College, UPEI
550 University Ave.
Charlottetown, PE, C1A 4P3
Canada
koverall@upei.ca

 

28 March 2020

Dear dog lover: 

Along with a number of collaborators, I am attempting to study the effects – if any - of changes in their humans’ behaviors/schedules on the behaviours of dogs in the household during the COVID-19 pandemic.  This is a stressful time for everyone, and I have spent a large part of my career trying to understand dogs’ responses to stressful circumstances, and how to best treat and prevent their anxieties. Naturally, this is a period of concern.

These are unprecedented times where people are being required to spend more time at home.  We ought to be able to monitor dogs for changes in behaviours that may occur with during this time of social isolation, quarantine and social distancing.  Any such changes should be measurable using a standardized set of questionnaires that have been validated for clinical patients and are now used world wide in many studies of patterns of anxious behaviors in dogs. 

The questionnaire is 21 pages long.  Depending on the version of Word and operating system you are using, pages 7 or 8 through 20 or 21 are tick sheets, and two of these (the repetitive behavior assessment and the old dog assessment) will not apply to every dog.  You can read the introductions and see if these two sets of forms apply to your dog. Everyone will need to complete at least (1) the separation anxiety screen, (2) the noise screen, and (3) the aggression/avoidance screen (pages 1-12 or 13, depending on formatting).   

Everyone needs to complete the forms twice:  once with pre-isolation behavioural information and once after we have a return to normal.  Ideally, we would like for you to complete this form every week or 2, but we know that everyone will not have time to do this.  If we monitor dogs every week or 2, we will be able to assess rate of change. Any more frequently and we just do not see the change. The first time you complete the form it will take you about 30 minutes if your dog is relatively problem free. If your dog has behavioral problems, it will take you longer to complete the form. After that, it will take 10-20 minutes since you can just identify yourself and your dog (to assure we can match sequential forms) and skip to the tick sheets unless there are changes in any of the earlier management factors (e.g., number and length of walks, play, training sessions, pattern of feeding, et cetera).

If you have multiple dogs, please feel free to complete a form for each dog.

These forms are created as Word documents so that you can save them and then make only the relevant changes.  The best way to save them is to add your or your dog’s name and the date they were completed to the existing label for the file (EX:  COVID dog study_Overall_AnnieOverall_22March2020).

There is also an online version of this form, for people who would rather complete the information entirely online and have it automatically sent to us: https://form.jotform.com/200826740303042.

We would like the first time you evaluate your dog to be either early in the changes that occurred in response to COVID-19 or, if you start sending us the form after the COVID-19 changes started, tell us how the dog was before COVID-19 changes in human movement and behaviour occurred.  We have a place on the forms to help you explain the initial evaluation. We also need for you to evaluate your dog at least once 2 weeks after our lives return to “normal”. So, the minimum number of times participants must complete the form is twice.  There is no maximum number of times for completion, but most changes will not show in less than a 1-2 week interval. 

If you decide that you no longer wish to participate, just tell us this is the case and we will expect no follow up.  If you decide you wish to withdraw your data, if you notify us by 31 January 2021, we will erase it. Please note that you can contact the UPEI Research Ethics Board at (902) 620-5104, or by email at reb@upei.ca if you have any concerns about the ethical conduct of this study.

If, when we review the forms, it is clear that your dog would benefit from seeing your veterinarian or a specialist, we will let you know this, if you provide an email address.  All information about you and your dog(s) will be kept strictly confidential. All forms will be anonymized and, except for email addresses of those wishing to receive the study results (see question 5), only anonymized data will be kept for publication/presentation at research meetings.  

We will publish the results of the study in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.  If you have any questions about the study or your dog, I’d be pleased to answer them. 

Please return your questionnaires to me at koverall@upei.ca, if you do not wish to use the online option.

If you have questions, please email me at koverall@upei.ca and I shall answer you via email. 

Many thanks.  Please stay well, be safe, and take care of each other. 

Sincerely, 

Karen L. Overall   (Website: www.KarenOverall.com; Twitter: @DrKarenOverall)

 

The questionnaire that follows focuses on many aspects of your dog’s behavior and related health issues. This history questionnaire has been improved and amended over the years using clinical data because medicine is an evolving, evidence-based field. The most recent published version of it can be found in Overall, KL. Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Dogs and Cats, Elsevier, 2013.

Instructions

Please complete the pages below as accurately as possible. If you have any questions about this form please email Dr. Karen Overall at koverall@upei.ca. Thank you for your dedication to your dog and for repeatedly completing this form. The first time you complete the form it will take you about 30-40 minutes to complete. Follow up forms will take 10-20 minutes to complete.

Please provide your dog’s weight and their body condition score. You can determine your dog’s body condition score from the reference chart in the link provided: https://wsava.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Body-Condition-Score-Dog.pdf

The first set of these questions deals with an “actual absence” - the owner actually leaves the house and the dog is either alone or totally without the owner.

The second set deals with “virtual absence” - the owner is home, but not accessible because the door is closed or the dog is barricaded in another room.

The questions are the same for each, but please answer both.

Check NO, if the dog does not react in the listed circumstance.

Check UNKNOWN, if you don’t know.

Check YES, if the dog reacts. Please evaluate the extent of the reaction from the list below.

• 100% of the time = always
• < 100% of the time, but > 60% = more often than not
• 40 – 60% of the time = about equally
• 0% of the time but < 40% = less often than not  

Behaviors during an ACTUAL absence

Behaviors during a VIRTUAL absence

Reaction to noise

KEY:  NR=no reaction; S= snarl (noise); L=lift lip (can see corner teeth); B=bark (aggressive, not an alerting bark); G=growl (not a play growl); SP=snap (no connection with skin); BT=bite (connects with skin, regardless of damage); WD=withdraw or avoid; NA=not applicable (animal has never been in that situation)

This screen can be used in three ways: 

(1) to note the presence or absence, at any time, of any of the behaviors, 

(2) by the clients to keep as a log about the baseline behavior, noting how many times the behavior occurs, given the number of times it is attempted, per unit time (i.e., per week) and 

(3) to keep a log about frequencies of the occurrence behaviors, given the number of times the circumstance has been encountered, at different intervals during treatment so that these numbers can be compared with those in (2).  

Please feel free to note if the reaction is consistent in style, or only directed towards one person, or only present in one restricted circumstance.  If using this screen only for the first use, you can also note if the dog has been worsening in intensity or frequency in any category using an *.  

This section of the history form is to be completed only if your dog is showing any repetitive or ritualistic behaviors that you find troublesome or about which you are concerned. 

If your dog is not doing this, you do not have to complete this form.   

Which category/categories below matches your dog’s behavior? 

Check as many categories that apply to the dog’s behavior. Then check the best description that relates to the selected behavior.

Finally, familial patterns of this condition have been documented so if you can provide a pedigree for this dog, it would be extremely helpful and informative.  If you are able to provide a pedigree please label the dogs in it with the following code:

KA – known affected

KU – known unaffected

TA – tentatively or possibly affected

TU – tentatively or possibly unaffected

AO – affected with another behavioral problem

Any blank dogs will be assumed to have no known behavioral information.

For this condition, affected relatives do not have to have the same form of the condition to be considered affected.  In other words, some dogs may suck themselves whereas others follow fences or chase their tails. If you know what any other affected dogs to, please let us know. 

This section of the history form is to be completed only if your dog is older (> 5 or 6 years for larger dogs and > 10 years for smaller ones) so that we can assess changes associated with aging. If your dog is not elderly or you have no complaints that could be associated with age, you do not have to complete this form. If you are uncertain, please complete the form.

 This questionnaire was adapted from a series of veterinary medical questionnaires to assess changes in physical and behavioral states and includes modified questions from: Rofina, J.E., Van Ederen, A.M., Toussaint, M.J.M., Secreve, M., Van, D.S., Van, D.M., I, Van Eerdenburg, F.J.C.M., Gruys, E., 2006. Cognitive disturbances in old dogs suffering from the canine counterpart of Alzheimer's disease. Brain Res. 1069, 216-226. Salvin, H.E., McGreevy, P.D., Sachdev, P.S., Valenzuela, M.J., 2011b. The canine cognitive dysfunction rating scale (CCDR): A data-driven and ecologically relevant assessment tool. Vet. J. 188, 331-336.

Assessment of elimination function (tick only 1 in each category)