Every dog has its way – which one is yours?

Much like humans, all canines fit into one of five discrete personality types, experts reveal in AI study

DOGS may come in all different shapes and sizes, but they have only five personality types, just like humans, scientists have found.

The University of East London used an artificial intelligence algorithm to trawl through 70,000 behavioural records of dogs to find out if there were any common threads running through the breeds.

They found that all could be classified into five groups: excitable/hyper-attached, anxious/fearful, aloof/predatory, reactive/assertive or calm/ agreeable. Humans can also be grouped into the “big five” personality types: extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness or neuroticism.

The team said that the anxious/fearful personality type in dogs corresponded to the trait of neuroticism in humans while calm/agreeable linked with agreeable. But they said the other types were specific to canines.

Experts say the findings are important for helping pair dogs with the ideal owner, with excitable dogs, for example, needing owners who can cope with their extra energy and neediness.

Likewise it might be unwise to place anxious or aloof dogs in families with young children.

It could also be useful in selecting or training dogs for specific roles where their temperament is important, such as guide dogs or those used by the emergency services.

‘This AI-based study could shift the selection and training of dogs in specific roles’

Dr Mohammad Amirhosseini said, “This innovative AI-based methodology holds promise for revolutionising the selection and training of dogs for specific roles, both working and non-working.”

Nearly 50 per cent of people giving dogs to animal shelters cite behavioural problems as a contributory factor and roughly one in four cites them as the primary reason for giving up their pet.

To discover the personality traits, dogs were scored on behaviours such as how they responded when unfamiliar people visited their home, or if they were jealous when their owner gave affection to another animal.

Anxious and fearful dogs were more likely to whine, jump up or try to intervene when the owner petted another animal, while calm and agreeable dogs did not seem to mind. Calmer dogs were also less likely to chase birds or cats, and were quicker to learn new tricks or tasks.

Aloof/predatory dogs were more likely to show aggression to joggers, rollerbladers or skateboarders passing outside the home. Reactive dogs tended to become aggressive when scolded or shouted at by their owners, and chase squirrels and cats. They were also fearful of sudden loud noises such as a vacuum cleaner being switched on or an object being dropped.

The experts say more research is needed to understand the nuances of canine personalities, but that the study should help foster stronger bonds between humans and their dogs, paving the way for more effective training programmes.

The report concludes: “These personality clusters appear to be biologically meaningful, in the sense that they describe broad domains of canine temperament that would be recognisable to a majority of dog owners and handlers.

“These findings could provide a framework to explore personality matching between companion dogs and their owners. The results of such studies could potentially generate insights regarding why dog-human partnerships succeed or fail, thereby reducing future rates of shelter relinquishment and euthanasia.”

Traditionally, dog personality assessments have relied on questionnaires and statistical analysis. The new research applied machine learning techniques to behavioural data from the University of Pennsylvania’s C-Barq database, which contains over 70,000 behavioural records.

The research was published in the journal