Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri--Columbia, 2003. / "May 2003." Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--Ph. D., University of Hong Kong.

Many groups, such as rescue and service-dog programs, are interested in assessing dogs’ personalities. These groups often need to assess large numbers of dogs with limited resources (e.g., in terms of facilities, trained assessors, time, money). To meet these groups’ requirements, an assessment tool that measures canine personality rapidly and is demonstrably reliable and valid is needed. The Dog Personality Questionnaire (DPQ) was developed to fill this gap. This dissertation describes a series of six studies designed to develop and evaluate the DPQ. To ensure that the final instrument built on previous research and was based on a comprehensive item pool, 1,200 descriptions were culled from the dog-personality assessment literature, shelter assessments, and dog experts’ input (e.g., researchers, trainers, veterinarians). Three expert judges narrowed this list to 360 items. In Study 1, these items were administered to 152 participants who gave feedback on the items’ applicability and ease of use. In Study 2, exploratory factor analysis was used to determine the number of factors underlying the 360-item questionnaire, based on 3,737 participants’ ratings of their dogs. Convergent criteria favored five factors, labeled as Fearfulness, Aggression towards People, Aggression towards Animals, Activity/Excitability, and Responsiveness to Training. Narrower facets within each factor were also identified. On the basis of item analyses, the questionnaire was shortened to 102 items. In Study 3, the 102-item questionnaire was administered to 2,556 new participants and further exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to examine the robustness of the five-factor solution. Items were then evaluated in terms of factor- and facet-loadings, content validity, internal consistency, and other criteria in order to shorten the questionnaire to a more manageable, 75-item form, and an even briefer 45-item form. In Studies 4-6, the psychometric properties of the 75-item and 45-item DPQ were further evaluated. The DPQ was shown to have acceptable levels of inter-rater reliability (Study 4), test-retest reliability (Study 5), and predictive validity (Study 6). Discussion focuses on evaluating how well the DPQ meets the criteria that guided its development. / text

Background: Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characteristically deficient in social awareness and communication skills, while displaying repetitive behaviours. Because of this, integration of individuals with ASD into society is often difficult as people do not know how to respond to their atypical behaviour. Particularly in Asian cultures, this vulnerable group is often subjected to stigmatization. However, recent literature has highlighted some benefits of assistive animal intervention (AAI) for individuals with ASD, which may improve their ability for social interaction. This review examines the effects of AAI in terms of service dogs for individuals with ASD. Methods: Journal articles were identified through a systematic review on psycINFO, Pubmed, Scholars Portal and Web of Knowledge. Additional searches were conducted for inclusion of grey literature and doctoral theses in the review. Results: Of the 170 studies initially found, 7 were selected; 3 cohort studies, 3 case-control studies, and 1 cross-sectional study. Reported outcomes included increased social reciprocity, decreased behavioural problems and decreased stress in individuals with ASD. Despite these positive outcomes, they should be taken with caution, as the designs of the seven studies included in this review show methodological weaknesses, such as small sample sizes and possible information bias from data collection. Conclusions: Additional research focused on varying age groups with ASD, longitudinal studies and standardized outcome measures are required for further research. What this review suggests though is that there is a need to address social services gaps for various disability groups, not just for those with ASD. Some legislative measures are in place in Hong Kong to support the accessibility of assistance dogs in public; however, since there are so few in Hong Kong, their exposure is not enough to gain widespread acceptance. Expansion of assistance dog services to serve other disability groups may help to enhance their quality of life. / published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

No description available.

Practicing clinical veterinarians in large companion animal practices are often faced with the phenomena of epileptic seizures which occur commonly in dogs. The high incidence of non-responsive cases is often frustrating, and the literature offers incomplete, conflicting and often inaccurate information. The concept of therapeutic anti-epileptic drug concentration monitoring, as applied in man as an aid to treatment, appears attractive in order to provide an improved service to the patient and client. An investigation into the pharmacokinetics of phenobarbitone, particularly at steady state, became necessary in order to interpret the application of drug serum concentration monitoring. The trend of veterinarians to extrapolate human kinetics to dogs is common and unsound. This study was an attempt to identify the similarities and dissimilarities between the pharmacokinetics of dogs and humans. No literature was available, both for man or animal, on the effect of food on the absorption of phenobarbitone. As dog owners frequently have to administer oral medication in food, this was an important factor to examine. The kinetics of the drug was determined in a group of epileptic dogs in order to provide a possible base-line therapeutic regime on commencement of treatment, and the practical application of therapeutic drug monitoring in order to individualize and improve response to treatment was explored. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1990.

No description available.

A serosurvey was conducted to determine rickettsial infection rates in dogs from two distinct areas in Indiana. Sera were collected from dogs and tested for the presence of antibodies to R. rickettsii, R. montana, R. rhipicephali, and R. bellii using the micro-immunofluoresence test. Results from this study indicate an association between canine and human rickettsial infections. Dogs in southwestern Indiana were found to have significantly higher rickettsial infection rather than those in east central Indiana. Human RMSF cases have also been reported more frequently from southern Indiana.All rickettsial species were detected at some level, with many dogs reacting to more than one antigen Evidence suggests that R. montana is the predominant rickettsial species in Indiana. In addition, indicative of a more suitable tick habitat, dogs sampled from rural areas were seropositive more frequently than the urban/suburban dogs. This study suggests that dogs are exposed to the same tick population as humans and can serve as indicators of the presence of rickettsial agents. Indiana residents should be aware of the potential for RMSF transmission throughout the state. / Department of Physiology and Health Science

Skeletal remains of the prehistoric New Zealand dog, the kuri, are frequently recovered from archaeological sites. Despite their relative ubiquity only one major study, and the last for twenty five years, has been conducted. That work provided limited anatomical and osteometric information and concluded that the kuri population was homogenous through space and across time. This study set out to provide a more detailed skeletal description and to investigate the question of population homogeneity by examinig kuri skeletal material from five museums and two university anthropology departments. Metric and non-metric data was collected from a total of thirty seven archaeological sites from throuhout New Zealand. Variation within the population was established by comparing coefficients of variation across a number of variables. A program of univariate and multivariate analysis was carried out to examine spatial and temporal variation. Results showed that the appendicular skeleton of the kuri has the highest levels of variation. Smaller limb shaft dimensions of late prehistoric kuri are thought to be due to a reliance on insufficient quantities of marine foods. Tooth wear analysis of late prehistoric dogs showed that they had severe tooth wear compared to �Archaic� dogs.

No description available.