Development of the "Highly Sensitive Dog" questionnaire to evaluate the personality dimension "Sensory Processing Sensitivity" in dogs.

ABSTRACT: In humans, the personality dimension 'sensory processing sensitivity (SPS)', also referred to as "high sensitivity", involves deeper processing of sensory information, which can be associated with physiological and behavioral overarousal. However, it has not been studied up to now whether this dimension also exists in other species. SPS can influence how people perceive the environment and how this affects them, thus a similar dimension in animals would be highly relevant with respect to animal welfare. We therefore explored whether SPS translates to dogs, one of the primary model species in personality research. A 32-item questionnaire to assess the "highly sensitive dog score" (HSD-s) was developed based on the "highly sensitive person" (HSP) questionnaire. A large-scale, international o

SUBMITTER: Braem M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5433715 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature