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Using a detailed hypothetical with statistics drawn from the canine literature, the authors explain why behavior evaluations are “no better than flipping a coin.”
Summary and Analysis: This paper is included because it comprehensively evaluates every study to date that has made validity, and/or reliability, and/or predictive ability claims about animal shelter canine behavior evaluations.
To best understand this article in the context of the behavior evaluation literature, please see National Canine Research Council’s complete analysis here. Article citation: Patronek, G.J.,
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This study examined both inter-rater reliability between experienced canine professionals and validity of visual breed identifications compared to DNA profiles—both were very low.
Thankfully, banning dogs of certain breeds is increasingly rare. But when this choice is made, as with the recent national BSL legislation in India, we
National Canine Research Council is a non-profit canine behavior science and policy think tank that focuses on the relationship between dogs and people. Our mission is to underwrite, conduct and disseminate academically rigorous research that studies dogs in the context of human society.
