Knowing the personality of dogs is of great importance to the breeder, the coach, and the dog owner, since it increases the quality of coexistence with the dog. The purpose of this BSc thesis was to examine the personality of the Slovenian autochthonous breed, the Karst Shepherd. Personality was evaluated for 17 dogs older than one year, based on five narrow traits: playfulness, curiosity, sociability, chase-proneness and aggressiveness. We used the standardized behavioural test called the Dog Mentality Assessment (DMA), which consists of ten subtests: social contact, game 1, chase, passive situation, distance play, sudden appearance, metallic noise, ghosts, game 2 and gunshots. We evaluated every form of dog behavior on a scale from 1 to 5 based on response rate. We assumed that dogs would be unconcerned by a stranger, younger dogs would be more playful than older ones, trained dogs less aggressive and more sociable than those not trained at all, and that the breed in general would show only a small interest in hunting. Results showed a relatively high rating in aggression (3.26), dogs were moderately social (2.24) and curious (2.21) with a medium value for chase-proneness (2.26). The lowest value was scored for playfulness (1.39). Personality is influenced by many factors, therefore we focused on age, gender and level of training. Aggression and chase-proneness were more common in females and young dogs while play more in males and younger dogs. Sociability and curiosity increased with training and declined with age.
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