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Assistance dogs are trained to help people with various physical and mental handicaps. These dogs are selected using a test comprising several behavioral components. Anecdotal reports have shown that only about 50% of the dogs so selected successfully complete training and become assistance dogs. Traditionally training centers had used puppies, but recently some trainers have begun to use dogs from animal shelters and pounds. This study randomly chose six males and three female adult dogs of appropriate breed types, from a shelter environment and conducted an 11-item selection test on each. The dogs were then trained in both basic obedience and a retrieval task. We found no correlation between an animals' overall performance on the selection test and its ability to complete the retrieval task. One behavior trait, fear/submission, however, was predictable from the selection phase.

Ability. --- Adult. --- Animal shelter. --- Animal. --- Animals. --- Behavior. --- Breed. --- Dog. --- Dogs. --- Environment. --- Female. --- Handicap. --- Male. --- Males. --- Obedience. --- People. --- Performance. --- Physical. --- Puppies. --- Puppy. --- Selection. --- Service dog. --- Shelter. --- Shelters. --- Task. --- Temperament test. --- Temperament. --- Test. --- Tests. --- Training.

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Behavior and plasma cortisol levels were examined in puppies and juvenile/adult dogs admitted to a public animal shelter. A behavioral test was developed to assess the responses of the dogs to novel or threatening conditions. Factor analysis of the behavioral responses of 166 dogs on day 3 in the shelter yielded six factors (locomotor activity, flight, sociability, timidity, solicitation, and wariness) that accounted for 68% of the total variance. Among those dogs remaining in the shelter for 9 days, plasma cortisol levels declined from day 2 to 9. Cortisol levels were weakly related to factor scores. In order to explore the relation of measures in the shelter to later behavior, questionnaires assessing problem behaviors were mailed to new owners of dogs 2 weeks and 6 months following adoption. Among puppies, wariness scores were negatively correlated with behavior problems at 2 weeks and cortisol levels were negatively correlated with behavior problems at 6 months. These results suggest how measures of behavior and endocrine activity obtained in shelters might prove useful for screening dogs for adoption or targeting dogs for behavioral intervention.

Ability. --- Activity. --- Adoption. --- Analysis. --- Animal shelter. --- Animal. --- Behavior problems. --- Behavior. --- Behavioral test. --- Behavioral-responses. --- Cortisol-levels. --- Cortisol. --- Dog. --- Dogs. --- Endocrine. --- Exploration. --- Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. --- Level. --- Locomotor activity. --- Locomotor-activity. --- Plasma-cortisol. --- Plasma. --- Puppies. --- Puppy. --- Questionnaire. --- Response. --- Responses. --- Shelter. --- Shelters. --- Temperament test. --- Test. --- Timidity.