| The first3months in the dog’s life was thought the critical stages that strongly affect their learning and behavior, and many of these. Many behavioral traits which police dog must naturally possess, such as attachment, excitement, courage, retrieve drive, etc., mainly depend on the puppy training during this stage. So early puppy training is very important for their further training as police dogs. However, the puppy training during the first2months after birth is nearly ignored, and there are no valid methods in some domestic police dog breeding&training bases. The aim of the present study was to establish the valid method of police dog puppies, to improve the quality of police dog puppies, and eventually to improve the whole efficiency of the police dog breeding and training.The animals used in this study were all bred at the Nanjing Police Dog Research Institute of Ministry of Public Security (NPDRIMPS), Jiangsu, China. The breeds included German shepherd dog (GSD), Labrador retriever (LR) and English springer spaniel (ESS). All puppies were born during2000-2007, and came from the dogs imported from Europe and their pure breeding offspring. The base diet is the FUSI(?) puffed pellet feed made in the NPDRIMPS.1. The analysis of the rejection reasons and the factors affecting the training acceptance of puppiesBased on testing records of22842-month-old puppies (980GSD,783LR and521ESS) and19926-month-old puppies (980GSD,783LR and521ESS), which were bred in the NPDRI during2000-2007, the rejection reasons of puppies and the effect of genetic and environment factors affecting the training acceptance rate of6-month-puppies were analyzed. The results indicated that the rejection rate of the puppies at the age of2months and6months were0.88%and9.49%respectively, and main rejection reasons were lacking retrieve drive and fearfulness, accounted for60.11%and16.85%respectively. Breed, age of dam, season of birth and parents significantly affected the training acceptance rate of6-month-puppies (P<0.05), and sex, litter size at2months of age and rearing&training mode had little effect (P>0.05). The training acceptance rates of LR and ESS were significantly higher GSD (P<0.05), and the puppies born in autumn or whose mother was less than1.5years when birth had lower training acceptance rate (P<0.05). The heritability of the training acceptance rate, retrieval drive and fearfulness of6-month-old puppies, which of GSD and LR were medium or high, and ESS was lower. These revealed that the emphasis should be placed on improving the puppy’s retrieve drive and fearfulness in the early puppy training program and dog breeding program.2. The study on the early behavior and division of the developmental stages of puppies(1) The observation of the behavior and socialization of puppies during suckling period.In order to determine the early training condition of puppies in large kennels, we analyzed the behaviors of puppies, including the interaction behaviors with their mother, littermates and raisers, through all day video monitoring of2litters of LR puppies in whelping room from1to45days of age. The results showed that the main activities of the early puppies were sucking and sleeping, which frequency and expended time decreased gradually with increase of the puppies’age. The interaction behaviors with their mother and littermates increased with increase of the puppies’age. The puppies had not been trained, and the contact time with human beings was little. These revealed that the dog breeding and management model may not be suitable for puppies’socialization. So we suggest that the contact time of puppies with human beings should be increased, and their environment should be enriched during the suckling period.(2) The observation of the development of puppy retrieve behavior.The aim of this experiment was to explore the method of improving puppy’s retrieval drive. In the experiment,12puppies (4GSD,4LR and4ESS), whose parents had normal retrieve drive, were randomly selected from1litter each breed. The puppies were tested from the age of20days by a tester played with gloves, a small rubber ball or a soft cotton ball every1-2day, to observe their fetching and retrieving behavior ontogeny. The results showed the fetching behavior of puppies were observed firstly at the age average32days, subsequently the tug-war, chasing ball, fetching ball and retrieving ball were observed at34,36,37and40days of age respectively. There were no significant difference between breeds (P>0.05), except for tug-war test. This suggests that the retrieve training of the early puppy could be initiated after1month of age.(3) The construction of growth curves and the division of development stages for weaned puppies.In order to find out the correlation between behavior and growth development of puppies, eight body traits of GSD puppies selected randomly, were measured from1.5to12months of age. Based on the data of growth, mean of each trait at each month of age were calculated, growth curves for each trait were constructed with Gompertz model, and growth periods of puppies were divided by ordered sample cluster and their behavior development. The results showed that all eight traits grew continuously during measured period. The Gompertz model could fit for all traits with0.971-0.998in indexes of fitness (R2). The value of inflection in each conformation trait was smaller than it’s mean at2months of age and the points of inflection are all before1.5months of age. The value of inflection in body weight was around the mean at2-4months of age and inflection point time was between3to4months of age. The duration of growth were ordered by body weight> chest girth>body length> chest depth> body height> croup height> head length> circumference of pastern. Taking account of the physiologic and behavioral development, the growth period of weaned puppies could be divided into four stages:1.5-2month,2-3month,3-6month and6-12month. These suggest that the first2months of life is significant different from other stages, in which the puppies develop rapidly, not only their body but also their behavior.3. The study on behavioral test of the police dog puppyIn order to assess the quality of police dog puppies impersonally and study the puppies’ behavior and early training technique further, we developed a Standardized Behavioral Test (SBT) for the police dog puppy on the basis of previous studies and experience. The SBT consists of12sub-tests and each sub-test had a rating scale whose score ranged from one to six. To examine the reliability and validity of the SBT,472-month-old puppies (26GSD,21ESS) were tested, and the testing results were analyzed. The analysis procedure consist of the following:Firstly, items analysis was applied to examine critical ratio of sub-tests and the sub-test which had unsatisfactory discrimination was removed. Then exploratory factor analysis was applied to the updated SBT by the principal components analysis with varimax rotation to assess its’construct validity. Subsequently, the internal consistency (Cronbach’s a coefficient) and test-retest reliability (Pearson’s correlation coefficient, Pearson’s R) of the updated SBT were analyzed by reliability analysis, and effects of sex, breed and litter size was analyzed by means of variance analysis. Finally the predictive validity was analyzed base on the training acceptance rate of the puppies at the age of6months.The results showed that:In the SBT,11sub-tests were satisfactory discrimination, only the Stability was removed for its low discrimination. The11-sub-test SBT include2factors—Retrieval and Socialization, accounting for total variance40.70%and14.11%respectively. The Cronbach’s a coefficient and split-half reliability of the Retrieval factor, the Socialization factor and the whole test were0.910and0.850,0.512and0.110, and0.825and0.712respectively, which all reached the requirement of general measure scale. The test-retest reliability of all sub-tests was above0.300, in which5sub-tests reached significance level(P<0.05). The total score and5sub-tests’score were significant correlation with the training acceptance rate at the age of6months (P<0.05). Breed and sex had significant effect on some sub-test’s score, but the size of litter had no significant effect on all (P>0.05). These suggest that the SBT has good homogeneity reliability, differential validity, construct validity and predictive validity, and could have practical value.4. The early training trial for improving the retrieve drive of puppyOne of aims of early puppy training is to improve the retrieve drive of puppy because lacking retrieve drive is one of the main reasons for puppy rejection. The objective of this trial is to access the effect of toys and playing with puppies on early retrieve behavior development of puppies. Trial1(toy):3litters of puppies (1GSD,2ESS) were selected, and each litter puppies were randomly divided into test group and control group. The test group was provided many toys, such as towels, gloves, cotton balls, sticks and tennis ball, for the puppies to play with or fetch in their room. The trial was conducted at least5day per week and each day lasted30-45minutes. Trial2(toy+playing):2litters of ESS were selected, and each litter was randomly divided into test group and control group. The test group was provided the toys as trial1, as the same time, a trainer played with the puppies. The trial was conducted at least5day per week and each day lasted10-30minutes. Both of trials started at the age of30days and ended by behavior test at the age of60days.The results showed that providing toys only didn’t have significant effects on the behavioral test score of the puppies (P<0.05), but providing toys and a trainer playing with the puppies had significant effects on the score (P<0.05), of which not only the retrieve type sub-tests, including Retrieve, Possessiveness, Persistence, Tug-of war, but also the non-retrieve type sub-tests, such as Strange sound, Passiveness, Activity and Mechanical toy, were higher than the control group significantly (P<0.05). This revealed that providing early puppies toys and a trainer playing with them could improve the puppy’s retrieve drive, as well as the courage and excitement due to increasing the contact with human beings. 5. The study on the early puppy training programBased on above studies, extensive literature reviews, and experience, we developed an Early Police Dog Puppy Training Program (EPDPTP). This program followed early behavior development rules of puppy, in which some general training principles were put forward, and training methods of different stages (neonatal, transitional, and socialization stage) were listed weekly. Training focused on the retrieve training, attachment building and environmental adaptation. The goal of the EPDPTP was to improve the trainability of puppies as police dog, including with fearlessness, strong retrieve drive and good attachment. The program was also suitable to application combined with the daily feeding and management for its simple tool, easy operation and tiny workload.To validate the effects of the EPDPTP, a contrast trial was conducted.8litters of neonatal puppies (3GSD,5ESS) were selected and each litter was randomly divided to control group and test group. The test group was trained by the EPDPTP from the age of5-7days, and the control group was trained as normal. All puppies were tested by the Police Dog Puppy Behavioral Test (PDPBT), which base on the SBT and include20sub-tests, at the age of2months. The results showed that the scores of the test group were markedly better than the control group in11sub-tests (P<0.05). The retrieve drive, attachment, excitability and courage of the puppies in the test group had been improved significantly. At the age of6months, the training acceptance rate of puppy in the test group (82.76%) were higher than in the control group (66.67%)(P>0.05). These indicated that the EPDPTP is valid, by which the retrieve drive, attachment, excitability, courage and comprehensive quality of puppies, as well as the training acceptance rate of puppies, could be improved. Thus we suggest promoting the EPDPTP application in practical police dog breeding. |
PDF Full Text Request