Reply To: How are the survey questions used?

[brittney logan]

Hi Pat,

Great question! We are a non-profit research group that does not receive money from corporations. Our team partnered with canine behavior specialist from around the country to come up with some of the survey questions. Many of these professionals are connected through the IAABC (International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants), who we closley collaborate with. Some of the questions also come from published and validated studies (listed below).

We know some of the questions sound a bit odd, and you may chuckle, but each question is unique and can help reinforce certain traits we think they will get at.
We can factor the questions together into categories depending on the scores. Some examples of factors would be Impulsivity, Noise Sensitivity, Prey Drive and many more! So there is a bigger picture to some of these strange questions that we ask you about your dog. These questions are not geared towards marketing, but purely on what we know about dogs and how we can better understand canine behavior and genetics.

Other surveys you can likely guess what they are trying to get at, like food allergies. We applied for and received grant money to study specifically allergies in dogs, which we continue to work on.

You the owner, know your dog best, and that is why we are so excited to have this citizen science project open to all dog owners around the world! We can gather so much behavior and genetic data to better understand our furry best friends, who may be able to then help us live healthier and happier lives in return.