是有關導盲犬的歷史，行為研究等等。
因為原本是寫在office裡，
所以複製過來有點小亂，
我已經很努力排過版囉。
More Than A Dog
More and more service dogs play important roles in human society, such as
guide dogs for the blind, hearing dogs for the deaf, search and rescue dogs
for emergencies, and assistance dogs for the ambulatory disabled human
(Koda, 2000). The use of guide dogs has been common in American only
for several generations but they have already in European culture for
centuries (Fishman, 2003). The first man who used a guide dog may be
at Pompeii after they excavated the volcanic ash. A Chinese scrolling
painting of the thirteenth century showed in Metropolitan Museum, New
York, indicates a blind man holding a leash in his left hand while carrying
a staff in his right hand (Fishman, 2003). The earliest and best evidence
for the use of guide dogs for the blind are written in the 13th century in
Western Europe (Fishman, 2003). There is also an illustration showing a
blind man led by a dog of 1465. The blind use dogs not only for guide but
also for protection and companion (Fishman, 2003). There are a number of
paintings from the 15th century showing blind men with dogs. Those drawing
have several things in common: 1) The dogs are too small to pull their owners
out of danger, 2) The dogs are with flexible leashes so that they could only
guide for general direction, 3) The owners all carry long staffs for extra assistant.
(Fishman, 2003). Small dogs were used in the earlier century, however, larger
breed such as German Shepherd, have been used during the past about 100
years. Golden Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers are both well-known breeds
that used today. The first event for the development of guide dog schools in the
United States took place in 1927. Dorothy Harrison Eustis brought the knowledge
for the training of guide dogs to the United States from Germany. She wrote an
article about her observation in Germany where she visited the school of guide
dogs and titled it as “The Seeing Eye.” The Seeing Eye was established as
the first school in the United States for the education of guide dog and the blind
(Fishman, 2003).
Guide dog training programs involved complicate methods and theory. It is a time
devoting goal to achieve. Most of guide dog associations have a puppy walking
program (Koda, 2000). Potential guide dogs aged from approximately 6 weeks to
1 year old live with volunteer families called puppy walkers (PWs) (Koda, 2000).
The requirements for PWs are very strict and straight. There should be no more
than one child in the family because it is hard enough to take care of both a
puppy and a young child. At least one of the family member should be able to
stay at home with the puppy or he/she is capable of taking the puppy to his/her
working place. Puppy walking starts after weaning age, includes sexual maturity,
and ends at the beginning of adult periods in potential guide dogs (Koda, 2000).
It is considered one of the most important stage for guide dog raising. The
purpose of puppy walking is to form a strong and secure human-dog attachment
in the sensitive period (Koda, 2000). The research indicates that puppies that do
not familiarize with people after birth for 12 weeks or more are generally insecure
even if they are accompanied by their attachment figure and rarely succeeded in
becoming guide dogs (Fallani, Previde, and Valsecchi, 2005). Potential guide
dogs live with PWs while they are at their socialization period, any impropriate
behavior caused by human or surroundings affect their possibility to become
a guide dog.
In 2006, Fallani, Previde, and Valsecchi’s paper mentions the study of analyze
the behavioral response of guide dogs in a emotional distressing situation
which promotes attachment behaviors towards their owners and comparing
those response with potential guide dogs. The study tested potential guide dogs
and they were compared with pet dogs using the Strange Situation Test
(Fallani et al., 2006). The evaluation is a series of seven 3-minutes intervals
when the dogs were placed in an unfamiliar environment, introduced to a strange
human and separated from their owners. The study used the 5-points scales
rating and Polar Vantage telemetric system was used to monitor cardiac activity
of dogs.The study used 57 Golden and Labrador retrievers dogs (14 males and
43 females), 42 dogs were from National School for Guide Dogs, Tuscany Region,
and 15 of them were pet dogs. The dogs from the guide dog school were at
three different stages of the training to become guide dogs: Custody, Apprentice
and Guide dogs (Fallani et al., 2006). Custody dogs are raised by PWs from
weaning until 11–15 months of age. Apprentice dogs were in the middle of their
training and Guide dogs had been living with their blind owners for 1 year when
tested (Fallani et al., 2006). The total of 57 dogs were divided into four groups:
19 Custody dogs, 13 Apprentice dogs, 10 Guide dogs and 15 Pet dogs. The
results of the study showed that pet dogs had more fearful response with
seeking behavior when they were in an emotional distressing situation.
There is more obviously increased cardiac activity in guide dogs than other
three groups during the presence of an unfamiliar human. Golden retrievers
showed more behavioral responses to the distressing situation than Labrador
retrievers. It also indicated that when guide dogs are separated from their blind
owner, they have a controlled behavioral reaction with a stronger cardiac
activation (Fallani et al., 2006).Behavior or temperament problems are one of
the most common reasons that the potential guide dog puppy is disqualified
for real service (Serpell & Hsu, 2000). Therefore, accurate methods for the early
evaluation of dog temperament traits would be a great enhancement for most
guide dog organizations (Serpell & Hsu, 2000). The typical age of testing for the
potential guide dogs is between 6 and 12 weeks. The evaluation is performed
by exposing every puppy to controlled test situations that are considered useful
for evaluating the behavioral traits, such as aggression, fear, confidence,
trainability and so on (Serpell & Hsu, 2000). The advantages of this kind of
evaluation are that there are limited controlled conditions for all testing dogs,
which are exposed to the same test situations at the same age, and are
recorded by the same skilled observers. The disadvantages are that the
testing animals are still immature and the results could only indicate the
dog’s performance at the time of testing (Serpell & Hsu, 2000). Also, most
potential guide dogs are at their PW’s house when they are about 7 weeks
old. It is common that guide dog organizations perform their behavioral
evaluations until the pups are back to the training school and they already
12-24 months of age. Thus, there are not enough evidence that the early puppy
testing could predict precise temperament and behavior traits in adult guide dog.
In 2000, Serpell and Hsu’s paper, it describes a different method of evaluating
behavior traits of potential guide dogs by using PW’s prospect of information.
The volunteers (PW’s) scored a total of 1097 potential guide dogs on a simple
series of 40 items questionnaire as behavioral rating scales (Serpell & Hsu,
2000). These rating scales provide analysis of scores extracted eight stable
and interpretable behavioral trials: stranger-directed fear/aggression non-social
fear, energy level, owner-directed aggression, chasing, trainability, attachment,
and dog-directed fear/aggression.(5) The evaluation scales are similar to the
ones used on testing children’s responses to different situations and stimuli
which is scored by their parents. PW’s volunteers use a series questionnaire
of five-point rating scales to score their potential guide dogs reactions to
different events and trials. For example, one of the items for “response to
traffic” is presented in the following format: (Serpell & Hsu, 2000).
Seems unperturbed Is obviously alarmed or
by heavy traffic 1 2 3 4 5 frightened by heavy traffic
PW’s volunteers then record a number on the scale that closely illustrates their
pups’ responses to this specific event. There are a total of forty questionnaires
which are chosen by guide dogs trainers and from long time observations of
guide dogs training progress. There are a final reviews and suggestion on
those questionnaires made by different guide dogs instructors and PW’s
supervisors. The most common behavioral problems found in disqualified
guide dogs are also included. Twelve of questionnaires are for aggression
testing, eight of them are for fear and anxiety, eight are for training and
obedience, four are for attachment and separation distress, and eight for
general behavioral trials (Serpell & Hsu, 2000). The results of this study are
conducted through The Seeing Eye Inc.(TSE). Potential guide dogs are evaluated
at the age of six and twelve months by their PWs using the 40-item
questionnaire. The 12 month’s reports on a total of 1067 pups were used for
the present analysis (Serpell & Hsu, 2000). There are four different breeds
contributed in this study: Labrador Retriever (369), German Shepherd Dog (293),
Golden Retriever (264) and Labrador X Golden Retriever crosses (140)
(Serpell & Hsu, 2000). The dogs were all not neutered or spayed except ten of
them at the time of evaluation. TSE’s own system for evaluating potential
guide dogs lists the primary behavioral reasons of disqualified guide dogs:
suspicious of people, lack of confidence, distraction, aggressive/suspicious
towards dogs, self-right. Fear of thunder, traffic, noise, person aggression-
protective, excitable, fear of stairs, emotional urinating, and other behavioral
problems. A potential guide dog may be rejected at any time during the four
months training program when the dog returns to the training school between
14 and 24 months of age (Serpell & Hsu, 2000). The standard 40-items
questionnaire response from PWs rates were high for 38 of them. The two
low rates were “aggression toward other dogs in the household” and
“tendency to chase cats” (Serpell & Hsu, 2000). The results of the behavioral
trails analysis were from 25 out of those 40 scores, which formed eight stable
and interpretable common behavioral problems for the potential guide dogs
as mentioned before. Three of these eight behavioral trials show moderate
internal consistency, while the reliabilities of the other trials were relatively low
(Serpell & Hsu, 2000). These eight factors were validated against the TSE’s
own system for disqualifying potential guide dogs for behavioral problems
(Serpell & Hsu, 2000). The results of this study confirmed the legitimacy of the
PW’s questionnaire evaluation of their pups, and developed a different accurate
method to predict the qualification of potential guide dogs.
References
Fallani G., Previde E. P., and Valsecchi P. (2005). Do disrupted early attachments affect the relationship between guide dogs and blind owners? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 100(2006), 241–57. Retrieved January 30, 2007, from Science Direct Journals database.
Fallani G., Previde E. P., and Valsecchi P. (2006). Behavioral and physiological responses of guide dogs to a situation of emotional distress. Physiology & Behavior xx(2007), xxx–xxx. Retrieved January 30, 2007, from Science Direct Journals database.
Fishman, G. (2003). When Your Eyes Have a Wet Nose: The Evolution of the Use of Guide Dogs and Establishing The Seeing Eye. Survey of ophthalmology 48(4), 452-58. Retrieved January 30, 2007, from Science Direct Journals database.
Koda, N. (2000). Development of play behavior between potential guide dogs
for the blind and human raisers. Behavioural Processes 53(2001), 41–46
Retrieved January 30, 2007, from Science Direct Journals database.
Serpell J. A. & Hsu Y. (2000). Development and validation of a novel method for evaluating behavior an temperament in guide dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 72(2001), 347-64. Retrieved January 30, 2007, from Science Direct Journals database.
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