Canine Activation Balance assessment tool.

Usage

1. As a clinical tool to assess the likely contribution of positive and negative activation as a temperament trait that can often be associated with a higher risk of behaviour problems such as over-activity and specific fears.

2. To improve the management of problems relating to positive and negative activation, both in the individual, and also as a research tool. For example a high level of negative activation associated with a specific fear will increase the risk of relapse due to trait level sensitivity to aversives as determined by PANAS.

3. As a tool to help select appropriate working dogs where positive and negative activation may be important to success/failure; our research has shown that certain levels of positive and negative activation may be associated with a shorter useful working life among certain working dogs.

4. In the screening of shelter dogs at the time of relinquishment to predict their ability to cope and the need for remedial intervention while in the shelter prior
to rehoming.

The tool

PANAS is a 21 item questionnaire using a 5 point Likert scale (plus a N/A answer).

There is an associated scoring sheet with mean/standard deviation scores, producing an overall questionnaire score for each construct for the dog; there are 3 sub-scores representing different facets of positive activation which when combined define the trait.