• Hero Banner
  • ACVCACVC
  • DVM 360
  • Fetch DVM 360Fetch DVM 360
DVM 360
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care
By Role
AssociatesOwnersPractice ManagerStudentsTechnicians
Subscriptions
dvm360 Newsletterdvm360 Magazine
News
All News
Association
Breaking News
Education
Equine
FDA
Law & Ethics
Market Trends
Medical
Products
Recalls
Regulatory
Digital Media
dvm360 LIVE!™
Expert Interviews
The Vet Blast Podcast
Medical World News
Pet Connections
The Dilemma Live
Vet Perspectives™
Weekly Newscast
dvm360 Insights™
Publications
All Publications
dvm360
Firstline
Supplements
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vetted
Clinical
All Clinical
Anesthesia
Animal Welfare
Behavior
Cardiology
CBD in Pets
Dentistry
Dermatology
Diabetes
Emergency & Critical Care
Endocrinology
Equine Medicine
Exotic Animal Medicine
Feline Medicine
Gastroenterology
Imaging
Infectious Diseases
Integrative Medicine
Nutrition
Oncology
Ophthalmology
Orthopedics
Pain Management
Parasitology
Pharmacy
Surgery
Toxicology
Urology & Nephrology
Virtual Care
Business
All Business
Business & Personal Finance
Buying or Selling a Practice
Hospital Design
Leadership & Personal Growth
Personnel Management
Practice Finances
Practice Operations
Technology
Wellbeing & Lifestyle
Continuing Education
Conferences
Live Conferences
Conference News
Conference Proceedings
Resources
CBD in Pets
Contests
Veterinary Heroes
Partners
Spotlight Series
Team Meeting in a Box
Toolkit
Top Recommended Veterinary Products
Vet to Vet
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Advertisement
By Role
  • Associates
  • Owners
  • Practice Manager
  • Students
  • Technicians
Subscriptions
  • dvm360 Newsletter
  • dvm360 Magazine
  • Contact Us
  • Fetch DVM360 Conference
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • About Us
  • MJHLS Brand Logo

© 2023 MJH Life Sciences™ and dvm360 | Veterinary News, Veterinarian Insights, Medicine, Pet Care. All rights reserved.

Signs of canine frustration

June 29, 2019

A new series of questions for veterinary clients could shed a light on a particular dogs tendencies to get peeved when expectations are subverted.

Traffic's been terrible with all this rain today, Sharon. So yes. I'm a little frustrated. (encierro/stock.adobe.com)

When you expect something to happen and it doesn't, you can get frustrated. Now, UK researchers have developed a new psychometric tool, a canine frustration questionnaire, that tries to grasp how frustrated-or generally able to be frustrated-a particular dog is.

What they did

Researchers from the University of Lincoln, University of Leeds and a London humane society asked pet owners via social media and personal contacts to answer questions about the tendencies of their dogs to experience the following types of frustration:

  • General frustration, displaying signs of frustration regularly and in various aspects of their daily life

Advertisement
  • Barrier frustration/perseverance, persevering in trying to achieve a specific goal, despite the presence of a physical barrier and when, at such a time, an owner may find them difficult to distract/interrupt

  • Unmet expectations, struggling to cope in situations where an expectation is not met, such as a routine change (absent or delayed reward)

  • Autonomous control, displaying problems (which may include aggressive behaviors) when there is a loss of freedom to act independently (due to restraint or confinement) and when there are threats to resources such as territory, food, or toys

  • Frustration coping, struggling to relax and settle when faced with a situation in which they cannot achieve their goal.

Respondents mostly in the United Kingdom and United States were asked to complete the questionnaire about their dog. Half of the 2,348 respondents were asked to take the same questionnaire six weeks later, and the other half one year later. In some cases, two caretakers for a particular dog were asked to fill out the questionnaire independently.

What they found

Twenty-one of the 33 items listed in the questionnaire were reliable enough to be added to the five categories or principal components of canine frustration above.

“There was a significant positive correlation between each principal component and the dog owners' general perception of their dogs' frustration tendencies, alongside other expected correlates,” wrote the researchers in a May 2019 article in Frontiers in Veterinary Science.

The researchers concluded that the Canine Frustration Questionnaire (CFQ) can be considered a robust tool to measure frustration tendencies in dogs.

“The introduction of the CFQ into clinical behavior practice will enable not only the identification of dogs with frustration tendencies, but also the future evaluation of interventions to specifically manage such problems,” the researchers wrote. “Further validation of the tool with behavioral and physiological correlates is underway to increase confidence in this previously neglected area.”

Take-home message

Speculating on current and future clinical relevance of the CFQ, the researchers imagined some possible interventions that might come with each of the five principal components of frustration seen in canine patients.

“Our biological interpretation of each component facilitates predictions concerning the behavior and management of dogs scoring more highly within one domain,” they wrote. “These should be considered hypotheses for consideration that can be tested through clinical intervention, and future work should aim to provide more empirical evidence in relation to these proposals.” The authors offered some very rudimentary ideas for interventions for dogs with high scores for particular frustration components, mostly citing a 2012 book titled Life Skills for Puppies:

  • Dogs struggling with “general frustration” might benefit from interventions that focus on the development of general frustration tolerance. Also, dogs experiencing irritability and moodiness of this nature might be in chronic pain. “Many chronic painful conditions manifesting as behavioral problems go unrecognized,” the researchers noted.

  • Dogs struggling with “barrier frustration/perseverance” might benefit from interventions focused on building tolerance around a gradient of barriers.

  • Dogs struggling with “unmet expectations” might benefit from interventions focused on creating positive associations with change.

  • Dogs struggling with a need for “autonomous control” might benefit from interventions intended to form positive associations with restraint, handling, confinement and approach when in possession of resources.

  • Dogs struggling with “frustration coping” might benefit from interventions focused on teaching them how to cope with such disappointments.

Related Content:

MedicalBehaviorTechnicians
Integrative approach to treating Giardia lamblia infections
Integrative approach to treating Giardia lamblia infections
Innovative digital microscopy platform is launched
Innovative digital microscopy platform is launched
Pride, representation, and inclusion in vet med
Pride, representation, and inclusion in vet med

Advertisement

Latest News

Oldest aardvark in Europe passes away

Integrative approach to treating Giardia lamblia infections

Innovative digital microscopy platform is launched

Enhanced pet health and wellness app now available

View More Latest News
Advertisement