Journal Article Review

Name Rachael Weiner

Article Title: The Predictive Value of Early Behavioral Assessments in Pet Dogs A
Longitudinal Study from Neonates to Adults
Authors (list all): Stefanie Riemer, Corsin Muller, Zsofia Viranyi, Ludwig Huber,
Friederike Range
Journal Title: Plos One
Issue: Volume 9
Page numbers: 1 to 13
Year 2014
1. Read the article in its entirety. Is this a (check one):
_X_ Article reporting the results of an original experimental research project.
___ Article reporting the results of an original observational research project.
___ Article reviewing and compiling data from older research projects.
___ An editorial, opinion piece, or book review.
2. What is the main question the article is trying to answer?
The main question the article is trying to answer is whether there is a relationship
between behaviors at the neonate age to puppy to adult age.

3. How was the experiment structured to answer the question? What is the
experimental protocol? Minimum 5 complete sentences
The 3 tests were conducted at 2-10 days, 40-50 days and 1.5- 2 years old.
Neonate
testing (2-10 days) included vocalization, sucking force and activity. Puppy testing (40-50
days) is the same test used to test service animals. It included an exploration test, a
greeting test, play test, a submissiveness test, a simulated veterinary exam, a starring
test, and an object test. Adult testing (1.5-2 years) included an exploration test, a
greeting test a threatening approach test, an object test and ball play. Dogs were scored
on their reaction to each test either on a yes no scale or a 1 to 5 scale. All tests were
video recorded for accuracy.

4. What was the independent variable (what was changed) in the experiment?
The independent variable is the environment the dogs were put in.

5. What were the dependent variables (what was observed and measured) in the
experiment?
The dependent variable was the dogs reaction.

6. What was the final result of the experiment? If not based on an original experimental
research project, what was the final conclusion of the author? Minimum 2 complete
sentences.
The results of the experiment were inconclusive, the experiment showed little
correspondence between any of the test. However the experimenters believe that there
would be a more obvious correspondence in one dogs behavior if test more often.
7. Did the authors answer the question? Explain. Minimum 2 complete sentences.
Yes the authors answered the question even though they had the opposite results to
their hypothesis. They hypothesized that neonate vocalization would relate to struggling
and flight behavior in the puppy restraint test and barking and growling in the adult
threatening approach. They predicted less neonates that vocalized significantly would
react slowly to the threatening approach. Also neonate sucking force would relate to
playfulness.
8. Write a short summary of the article. Minimum 8 complete sentences
The purpose of this article was to test the validity of the test currently run on our working
dogs and whether multiple test would show a pattern. This testing was done at 2 to 10
days old while still nursing, 40 to 50 days old which is the standard for working dog
testing, and 1.5 to 2 years old. Though the neonate testing was vastly different that the
other 2 tests, the puppy test and adult test contain mostly the same tests. There were 99
Border Collie puppies tested in the first neonate test, 93 of those dogs continued on to
be in the puppy test which included 134 Border Collies the same age, 40 of the dogs
tested in the neonate test and 45 of the dogs tested in the puppy test made the majority
of the 50 dogs in the adult test. All of the dogs in this test are pet dogs, not working
dogs like the tests are designed for. Two female experimenters of similar ages
conducted all the testing giving one less variable to consider. However in the neonate
testing not all of the puppies were removed from their mother for the same time. The
Median of these times was 55 minutes but it varied from 0 to 245 minutes.

9. List at least 3 new terms that are presented in the article and write the definition next
to the term. This is worth 30% of the assignment. By writing there were no new
terms is not an acceptable answer.
a. Ontogeny
Developmental history of an individual organism.
b. Cognitive
Relating to the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning
c. Confounding
Confusing