Behavior Assessment Form

The questions on the following pages are designed to allow you to describe how your dog has been behaving in the recent past. Studies have shown that most of these questions can be grouped or condensed into a set of thirteen major behavioral traits or factors that describe most of the variation in canine temperament, and which are relatively consistent across dogs of different sexes, breeds, and ages:

1. Stranger-directed aggression
2. Owner-directed aggression
3. Dog-directed aggression/fear
4. Trainability
5. Chasing
6. Stranger-directed fear
7. Nonsocial fear
8. Dog-directed fear
9. Separation-related behavior
10. Touch sensitivity
11. Excitability
12. Attachment or attention-seeking
13. Energy Please try to answer all of the questions.

Only use the "not applicable" option if you have never observed the dog in the situation described.

Some dogs are more trainable than others. Please indicate how trainable or obedient your dog has been in each of the following situations in the recent past.

Some dogs display aggressive behavior from time to time. Typical signs of moderate aggression in dogs include barking, growling and baring teeth. More serious aggression generally includes snapping, lunging, biting, or attempting to bite. Please indicate your own dog's recent tendency to display aggressive behavior in each of the following contexts:

Dogs sometimes show signs of anxiety or fear when exposed to particular sounds, objects, persons or situations. Typical signs of mild to moderate fear include: avoiding eye contact, avoidance of the feared object, crouching or cringing with tail lowered or tucked between the legs, whimpering and whining, freezing, and shaking and trembling. Extreme fear is characterized by exaggerated cowering, and/or vigorous attempts to escape, retreat or hide from the feared object, person or situation. Please indicate your own dog's recent tendency to display fearful behavior in each of the following contexts:

Some dogs show signs of anxiety or abnormal behavior when left alone, even for relatively short periods of time. Thinking back over the recent past, how often has your dog shown each of the following signs of separation-related behavior when left, or about to be left, on its own:

Some dogs show relatively little reaction to sudden or potentially exciting events and disturbances in their environment, while others become highly excited at the slightest novelty. Signs of mild to moderate excitability include increased alertness, movement toward the source of novelty, and brief episodes of barking. Extreme excitability is characterized by a general tendency to over-react. The excitable dog barks or yelps hysterically at the slightest disturbance, rushes toward and around any source of excitement, and is difficult to calm down. Please indicate your own dog's recent tendency to become excitable in each of the following contexts:

Most dogs are strongly attached to their people, and some demand a great deal of attention and affection from them. Thinking back over the recent past, how often has your dog shown each of the following signs of attachment or attention-seeking

Dogs display a wide range of miscellaneous behavior problems in addition to those already covered by this questionnaire. Thinking back over the recent past, please indicate how often your dog has shown any of the following behaviors: