Most Endearing and Annoying Habits |
German Shepherd Dog
Survey
Paul & Welly & Beowulf &
Montrose
"The Rin-Tin-Tin Twin" & "Baywatch" & "The Old
Grump"
MOWBRAY@ac.dal.ca
In the GSD Survey conducted in July, 1995
respondents were asked to describe their dogs' most endearing and most annoying habits.
This document lists respondents' answers to those items.
Responses were classified into discrete categories
with multiple classification. For example an aggressive behaviour could also be scored as
a protective behaviour. In addition respondents listed several or more habits in one
category. For example an owner would list that their dog was very intelligent,
affectionate and was playful under endearing habits. Such an answer would be listed in the
three categories covering those subjects.
Content analysis tends to be very subjective in
nature, largely dependent on the knowledge (or lack of), experience and background of the
persons(s) examining the 'data'. I have included the actual responses and you can examine
them and develop your own scoring scheme if you want. The current classification was
developed by myself and other family members.
A total of 10 categories were developed that covered
both positive and negative attributes of those categories.
The following categories apply:
1. LOYALTY/PROTECTION Positive- very loyal and exhibits
protective behaviour.
Negative- overly protective.
2. EATING/DRINKING Positive- self-explanatory
Negative- over eats, messy,
glutton, hog, etc.
3. AFFECTIONATE Positive- cuddling, wakes you up,
kisses, licks, greetings
Negative- overly affectionate, etc.
4. BEHAVIOUR/TRAINING Positive- Follows commands, physical
behaviours (lies on back to have tummy
rubbed), high stepping dog, not afraid
of loud noises, strange situations,etc.
Negative- Above reversed or to extreme.
5. FRIENDLY/AGGRESSIVE Positive- Loves to meet people, laid
back around strangers, good around other
dogs or animals.
Negative- Above reversed.
6. PLAY Positive- Loves to play
Negative- Takes it to an extreme-
wants to play all the time.
7. INTELLIGENCE Positive- Demonstrates an ability to
understand what you want and then do it.
Negative- Demonstrates an ability to
understand what you want and then not do
it.
8. INDEPENDENCE Positive- Strong emotional stability.
Not scared of anything. Willing to go
out there and find out what's going on.
Strange situations don't bother them.
Negative- Fearful, strange situations
bother them, neurotic, etc.
9. ATTENTION Positve- Love attention
Negative- demand too much attention
10. OTHER Miscellaneous
CATEGORY POSITIVE NEGATIVE
1. Loyalty/Protection 11 10
2. Eating/Sleeping/Etc. 0 9
3. Affection 43 5
4. Behaviour/Training 13 27
5. Aggressive/Friendly 13 15
6. Play 9 8
7. Intelligence 9 9
8. Independence 8 3
9. Attention 3 6
10. Other 1 3
- INTERPRETATION:
- Numbers beg that they be analyzed and from this we
make conclusions. However, these numbers are derived from a subjective evaluation and may
not be really what is going on. As well the sample is restricted to mainly GSDer's and
those who have net access.
- THIS IS NOT A RANDOM SAMPLE.
- Given all these restrictions what we love about our
dogs are:
a) Their affection (they love to lick us)
b) Their behaviour/training
c) Their friendliness
d) Their play (throw this ball for me)
e) Their intelligence
What we hate is:
a) Their behaviour training (don't follow orders) b)
Their over aggressivness (chase cats, face off postman) c) Their over protectiveness (too
smart for your own good) d) Their intelligence (While you are away I'll amuse myself) e)
Their I'm playing why aren't you f) Physical Behaviours
What it boils down to is that GSD's are smart and
active.
- HERE ARE THE RESPONSES:
-
Most endearing habit: Follow my wife everywhere to protect her
Most annoying habit: follow my wife everywhere
Most endearing habit: Sleeping on her back
Most annoying habit: Eating poop
Most endearing habit: Loves to be petted
Most annoying habit: Uncivilized in the house and a food scavenger
Most endearing habit: Morning greeting ritual of snuggling
Most annoying habit: Jumping on my lap uninvited (when the Big Kids are after her)
Most endearing habit:as soon as I am really awake in the morning she walks over for a lick
Most annoying habit:barking at stuff outside
Most endearing habit: TOTALLY DEVOTED BAR ALL ELSE
Most annoying habit: TOTALLY DEVOTED BAR ALL ELSE(SOMETIME OVER PROTECTIVE)
Most endearing habit: LOVES TO GIVE/RECEIVE HUGS
Most annoying habit: WILL SMACK YOU IN THE FACE WITH HIS PAWS
IF YOU AREN'T PAYING ATTENTION TO HIM
Most endearing habit: LOVES TO SNUGGLE
Most annoying habit: WHEN CHASING BAVO DOESN'T CARE IF SHE RUNS IN TO YOU
Most endearing habit: Friendliness: bestower of many licks
Most annoying habit: Barking while we're on phone or in bathroom
Most endearing habit: Gets in armchair, puts paws on armrest, and rests head on paws...adorable!
Most annoying habit: Jumping on bed when alarm goes off
Most endearing habit: A big lovable guy with a beautiful personality who loved to play
Most annoying habit: Stubborn; very vocal
Most endearing habit: Very inventive, ingenious, creative, full of surprises.
Most annoying habit: Stubborn; very vocal
Most endearing habit: Never even thinks about going potty in the house.
Most annoying habit: She keeps growing up! (sniff sniff)
Most endearing habit: Very protective
Most annoying habit: Pottied in the house
Most endearing habit: Rests her chin on your lap.
Most annoying habit: Eats too much
Most endearing habit: Woo woo's for luvin's, very affectionate
Most annoying habit: Can't stop moving!
Most endearing habit: The way he places himself between me and others,
especially people whom he doesn't know.
Most annoying habit: He paws me when he wants attention. This can be painful.
Most endearing habit: Sleeps in my bed and snuffles into my ear, consoling me
and making me laugh.
Most annoying habit: Eats everything in sight! Especially non-food items.
Most endearing habit: oh heavens! Everything from gardening to hovering
Most annoying habit: deliberately choosing to ignore a command
Most endearing habit: cuddling :)
Most annoying habit: whining when he doesn't get his way!
Most endearing habit: doing anything for attention
Most annoying habit: doing anything for attention
Most endearing habit: Checking on "her" pet owners
Most annoying habit: Waking us up at 3AM to go outside.
Most endearing habit: ball play by herself--she pounces on her ball and sends it scooting.
Most annoying habit: aggressive barking at everyone and everything she feels
doesn't belong in her vicinity
Most endearing habit: The most affectionate boy ever, a real snuggler.
Most annoying habit: Has to eat everything in sight.
Most endearing habit: Affectionate, always ready to play, or swim, or...
Most annoying habit: Prey drive. She's hard on the fingers.
Most endearing habit: Steadfast companion, always at my side.
Most annoying habit: Growling at strangers that push at her.
Most endearing habit: The best with kids and older people. A talker.
Most annoying habit: Wants to be alpha bitch.
Most endearing habit: kissing & clacking her teeth
Most annoying habit: jumping & biting the top of your head as you walk thru the yard
Most endearing habit: kissing
Most annoying habit: throwing her toy in your lap & barking to have you throw it
Most endearing habit: guardian protector & master of the females
Most annoying habit: picky eater at times
Most endearing habit: Putting his head on couch arm while waiting to have the ball thrown.
Most annoying habit: Dropping the ball on the keyboard after he's been told no more ball!
Most endearing habit: Running from anywhere in the house to greet me when I get home.
Most annoying habit: Taking up half the kingsize bed, sprawled in the middle so she gets
a good night's sleep and we suffer
Most endearing habit: She waits to go downstairs in the morning until I get down.
Most annoying habit: Yodelling
Most endearing habit: Lying on her back doing pushups in the air.
Most annoying habit: Lunge, snap, bark routine at strangers.
Most endearing habit: When she puts her ears back and tucks
her butt when she wags her tail to greet me.
Most annoying habit: Likes to eat cat shit
Most endearing habit: His sad eyes and drooping mouth when he
is begging for something really good
Most annoying habit: Mouthing and being rough when playing
Most endearing habit: licking my nose
Most annoying habit: peeing on the carpet
Most endearing habit:his sweetness
Most annoying habit: curiosity in my sex life
Most endearing habit:bathroom visits
Most annoying habit:none-This is the perfect dog
Most endearing habit: snuggling up to give me nose pokes
Most annoying habit: pestering the cat
Most endearing habit: sleeping in odd positions
Most annoying habit: obnoxious vocalizing
Most endearing habit: He woo-woos when we do.
Most annoying habit: Torments our 10 yr old deaf Scottish Terrier
Most endearing habit: Loves me and shows me by using her ears as
part of her speaking/emotions
Most annoying habit: Tries to wake me up sometimes (after I have
hit the snooze button) by licking my face
Most endearing habit: She's Nosey, and has to Lick Everything!
Most annoying habit: She has to Lick Everything!
Most endearing habit: likes to snuggle
Most annoying habit: won't stop snuggling
Most endearing habit: staring and barking when he wants something
Most annoying habit: go thru legs and boinking you in the privates
Most endearing habit: running around with something in his mouth
Most annoying habit: Jumping on the bed in the morning and rubbing his eyes.
Most endearing habit: When I lie down on the sofa to rest or watch TV,
she nuzzles up to me and burrows her head under the
covers or next to my face as if to say "Can I come up and
cuddle?"
Most annoying habit: Vicious barking and lunging at any
bicyclist, motorcyclist or pedestrian that comes within 50 feet
of the car whenever we take a ride. (We're working on breaking
this habit).
Most endearing habit: total devotion to me
Most annoying habit: dog aggressive
Most endearing habit: extremely intelligent
Most annoying habit: escape artist
Most endearing habit: friendliness
Most annoying habit: none
Most endearing habit: very vocal, intensely protective, very
smart
Most annoying habit: very low pain threshold, very neurotic
Most endearing habit: very affectionate when she knows you
well
Most annoying habit: afraid of everything new
Most endearing habit: Just neat to have around.
Most annoying habit: None as of now
Most endearing habit: big time snuggler
Most annoying habit: removes rubber tip from all door stops
in house
Most endearing habit: likes to snuggle
Most annoying habit: won't stop snuggling
Most endearing habit: running around with something in his
mouth
Most endearing habit: tucks her bottom, and runs full
throttle, whenever she sees or smells me, headon into me, stops
and jumps up to kiss directly in front of me.
Most annoying habit: very sensitive, spends a lot of time
hiding under desks and tables-maybe due to being dumped at around
8 weeks of age.
Most endearing habit: very maternal towards kittens
Most annoying habit: rarely leaves the couch
Most endearing habit: gets so excited when our male Kuvasz
comes in from outside or from a show, loves him to death and just
talks to him all the time
Most annoying habit: extremely pushy for constant attention
Most endearing habit: loves to lay on her back with her feet
up in the air
Most annoying habit: afraid of loud noises
Most endearing habit: very maternal towards baby animals
Most annoying habit: a bit too territorial, hasn't developed his
brains yet on how to guard properly
Most endearing habit: twists her head like a goose when
she plays
Most annoying habit: slobbery puppy and loves to wipe her mouth
on your clothes
Most endearing habit: always slapping her paws at you
Most annoying habit: won't listen
Most endearing habit: Listening to commands (most of the time)
Most annoying habit: Jumping up on the table/bed (front paws
only)
Most endearing habit: If somebody cries, she comes running
to give the person a few kisses.
Most annoying habit: Whines a lot
Most endearing habit: greets with ball in his mouth all the
time
Most annoying habit: likes to stick close to people when they
are walking
Most endearing habit: Nosing me while I doing paper work wanting
to go work/play
Most annoying habit: same as above
Most endearing habit: Doing her baby seal impression
Most annoying habit: Sticking her wet nose in my face 10
minutes before the alarm goes off.
Most endearing habit: I've only had her a week can't tell
Most annoying habit: None (?)
Most endearing habit: This 98# GSD sits "Pretty" with paws
crossed on his hind legs trying to look like a puppy for a
cookie.
Most annoying habit: chasing opossum and birds in the yard.
Most endearing habit: cuddling up on your side whenever I sit
down.
Most annoying habit: ripping up the house when there is a storm.
Most endearing habit: waking me up with kisses in the morning.
Most annoying habit: barking at everything.
Most endearing habit: She decides that she has to go into her
crate anytime I shower. I only have the crate now because she
still likes to use it.
Most annoying habit: She thinks I can cure thunder storms; so
she wakes me up to make them go away.
Most endearing habit: very affectionate
Most annoying habit: very affectionate
Most endearing habit: very friendly
Most annoying habit: hates cats
Most endearing habit: eager to please
Most annoying habit: very insecure
Most endearing habit: snuggling beside my feet
Most annoying habit: prefers to avoid men (including my
husband)
Most endearing habit: affectionate
Most annoying habit: high strung and quite mouthy
Most endearing habit: independence
Most annoying habit: likes to bully his kennelmate (whichever
female is with him)
Most endearing habit: very gentle
Most annoying habit: likes to be boss
Most endearing habit: can be very friendly
Most annoying habit: quite possessive and aggressive
Most endearing habit: very playful on her walks
Most annoying habit: very mouthy
Most endearing habit: loves affection
Most annoying habit: very timid with strangers
Most endearing habit: likes to snuggle
Most annoying habit: letting her brothers push her around
Most endearing habit: her friendliness
Most annoying habit: fairly stubborn
Most endearing habit: "Talking" personality
Most annoying habit: Noisiness
Most endearing habit: Loyalty
Most annoying habit: Bitchiness with Xano
Most endearing habit: Focus
Most annoying habit: Circling around rather than coming directly.
Most endearing habit: Loves to cuddle
Most annoying habit: Get's mad at you if you leave town and
don't take her with you. Then makes messes right in front of you
for a few days.
Most endearing habit: Will turn even the worst small dog hater
into a fan. Thinks he's 150 lbs.
Most annoying habit: "The Terrorist", Loves to dig in flower
beds and attacks our 75 lbs. Chessie
Most endearing habit: Fiercely loyal
Most annoying habit: Happiest when licking you
Most endearing habit: her sweetness with Everyone, esp.
children
Most annoying habit: barking at the other dogs to keep them in
line
Most endearing habit: Very sweet, gentle and funny
Most annoying habit: sometimes barks when she is left at
home, but another dog gets to leave w. owner
Most endearing habit: Affectionate and funny
Most annoying habit: Lunges/barks at smaller animals
Most endearing habit: Sweet and calm
Most annoying habit: escape artist
Most endearing habit: Curling up on my shoulder and the back
of the sofa while I sit in the corner of the sofa.
Most annoying habit: Licking/eating the carpet
Most endearing habit: Sitting in my lap -- all 50 lbs of her!
Most annoying habit: Barking
Most endearing habit: Cuddling on the bed.
Most annoying habit: Trying to eat all the food
Most endearing habit: high stepping prancing trot while heeling ,
zest for life.
Most annoying habit: barks at other dogs when she is in her crate
Most endearing habit: wants to be good, no resistance to
anything I ask him to do
Most annoying habit: eats rocks and dirt
Most endearing habit: is a good girl now but
Most annoying habit: she was very wild as a young dog
Most endearing habit: has "charm"
Most annoying habit: hits front of crate with his feet when
other dogs approach - huge banging noise
Most endearing habit: gets us up every morning with ear licks and
nibbles
Most annoying habit: same as above but on weekends
Most endearing habit: has a very mournful expression
Most annoying habit: bugging our 13 yr. old border collie mix
German Shepherd Dog Survey Results
- Background & Methodology:
-
- In July, 1995 a survey of GSD (German Shepherd Dog)
owners who subscribe to the GSD List Server located at Latrobe University in Australia was
conducted. The survey was conducted in order to:
a) compile a statistical profile of GSD owners on the server
b) examine whether or not GSD owners varied
significantly from other breed owners in various personality traits.
Messages were posted both to gsd-l@latrobe.edu.au
and rec.dogs.pets on the USENET asking interested persons to contact the researcher. Two
research instruments were developed, one for GSD owners and one for other breed owners.
Survey instruments were distributed on request.
A total of 98 surveys were distributed and a total
of 77 responses were received (71 GSD owners and 6 other breed owners). The most recent
information indicates that as of July there were approximately 178 persons subscribed to
the GSD server yielding a response rate of 40% (71/178). Assuming that there was no
response bias and that this was a random sample of GSD net users the confidence interval
is +/-6% and the same estimates would be obtained 95 times out of every 100 surveys run.
Normally response rates of 60% or more provide some
measure of assurance that responses are generally unbiased (sic there is no difference
between those who answered the questionnaire and those who did not). The 40% response rate
does raise some concerns with respect to response biases. As part of the research process
it is often worthwhile comparing the selected sample statistics against the population
statistics (gender, age, education, income, etc.). If the percentage distributions are
comparable then you can have more confidence in you sample being representative of the
population you are studying.
The only statistic that was available for comparison
was gender and it was derived from the roster (129 on the list as of July, 1995). The
sample contained 27% males and the roster contained 30% female thus providing some
evidence of representativeness (at least on gender lines).
The other problem that emerged was the low number of
'other breed' owners who responded (6). Normal inferential statistics employed in testing
differences between groups produce unstable test statistics. To overcome this special
inferential statistics were employed to test differences between groups (SPSS Exact Tests
and Monte Carlo Significance- those of you who want a more technical explanation as to how
these tests operate let me know).
Here are the results couched in a series of
questions and answers.
Q. We know how many people responded to the survey. But how
many GSD's does this represent?
A. The 71 GSDer's owned a total of 271 GSD's of which 45% were
male and 55% were female. The median number of GSD's owned
was 2 per respondent. Here's the distribution:
Number of GSD's Owned Number of Persons
===================== =================
One Dog 28 ( 40%)
Two Dogs 15 ( 21%)
Three Dogs 15 ( 21%)
Four to Ten Dogs 9 ( 13%)
Over Ten Dogs 3 ( 5%)
Total 71 (100%)
Sixteen respondents reported owning other breeds as well.
Q. A double question here. What are our reasons for owning
GSD's and how do those reasons for owning compare to the
other breed owners?
A. In the table below is the summary of the reasons for owning.
Note that respondents gave multiple reasons.
Reasons For Owning
Reasons GSD Owners Other Breed Sig.
======= ========== =========== ====
Companion/Pet 93 (41%) 6 ( 40%) NO
Breeding 42 (18%) 3 ( 20%) N0
Competition 42 (18%) 3 ( 20%) NO
Working 7 ( 3%) 0 ( 0%) YES
Security 45 (20%) 6 ( 40%) YES
Hunting 0 ( 0%) 0 ( 0%) NO
Total Reasons 229 (100%) 18 (100%)
The most frequently occurring reason for both
groups was 'companion/pet'.
The second most frequent reason given for both groups was
for security/protection. While this occurred 20% of the time
for GSDer's it occurred 40% of the time for other breed
owners. While this may appear to be counter-intuitive there
is a plausible explanation dealing with personality types.
The only other reason to exhibit a statistically significant
difference was with respect to 'working'. However, the
difference of 3% is not great.
The 'Sig.' column indicates whether or not the differences
in the frequency of reasons given occurred by chance or
represent 'real' differences. Two significant differences
emerge. The other breed owners were more likely to have
their dogs for security reasons and less likely to have
them as working dogs (differences were significant at the
.05 level- there were 95 chances in 100 that the observed
differences did not occur randomly.)
Q. Are there any important differences between GSD owners and
other breed owners?
Yes there were several differences. The 24 attitudinal
questions that you were asked were designed to measure
several underlying concepts. While there were 9 conceptual
measures only 5 were usable (small sample size made some concepts
unreliable.
The 5 conceptual measures were:
a) Outgoing type of person (extroverted)
b) Involved in community
c) Optimistic
d) Concern with crime
e) Religiousness
These five factors were examined by group (GSD vs. other
breed owners). Significant differences occurred on all 5
factors. The results are summarized below:
% of Respondents Agreeing or Strongly Agreeing
==============================================
Item: GSD Owners Other Breed Sig.
===== ========== =========== ====
Outgoing 36% 80% Yes
Involved In Community 39% 80% Yes
Optimism 75% 50% Yes
Concern With Crime 38% 100% Yes
Religiousness 50% 100% Yes
Q. So what does this mean?
A. It is important to remember that these differences are
tentative due to the low number of other breed owners in the
sample. Even if these differences persist with larger
samples we are left with the problem of interpreting these
concepts which tends to be very subjective.
The items suggest we tend to be aloof, optimistic, not
fearful and less religious than the other breed owners. I
suppose some of these attributes might be associated with
our GSD's- aloof & not fearful.
Q. Who are the listers on the GSD server?
A. That's where those demographic stats come in. Here they are
summarized below.
Distribution of Respondents By Country
======================================
Canada 10 14%
USA 59 83%
Other 2 3%
Distribution of Respondents By Gender
=====================================
Female 52 73%
Male 19 27%
Distribution of Respondents By Marital Status
=============================================
Married/Common Law 50 70%
Single 12 17%
Separated/Divorced 8 11%
Widowed 1 2%
Distribution of Respondents By Residential Location
===================================================
Urban 12 17%
Suburban 39 55%
Small Town 4 6%
Rural 16 22%
Distribution of Respondents By Age
===================================
Average Age = 39 years
Median Age = 39 years
Distribution of Respondents By Income & Socio-Economic
Status
=====================================
Average Income = $53,000 US (Computed from grouped data)
Most Frequently Occurring Income Category = $60,000 +
(26 persons reported in this income category).
Socio-Economic Status- This was computed employing
occupation and income based on the Pineo-Porter Scale.
| Upper Middle Class |
13 18% |
| Middle Class |
34 48% |
| Lower Middle Class |
15 22% |
| Unable to Classify |
9 12% |
This should not be surprising. You have to be able to afford it to be able to be on the net.
Q. While that's interesting information what can be done with it?
A. Further analysis. For example it might be interesting to conduct gender comparisons
or age comparisons. Read and
review. If you have any questions you want answered contact
me.
Q. What was the point of the 'Jake' question?
A. Well, it had been put in there as a humorous piece and I
had been expecting some really funny answers. It turned out
that about 52% knew who Jake was and 48% didn't (Jake is
Anka Andrews (who is a heavy poster) GSD mix about whom
there are numerous funny (and serious- he is a therapy dog)
postings.
The question was a total 'blowout' and my apologies to
people who mistook it as a serious question.
It is interesting that while we tend to think of this server
as being a group where people know everybody else this does
not appear to be the case. I suspect that a significant
portion of people conversing over the net restrict their
interests (probably due to the cost in money for many
netters).