Beware the Straw Man by Linda P. Case

Author:Linda P. Case
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dogwise Publishing
Published: 2015-02-12T00:00:00+00:00

Take Away for Dog Folks : These results suggest that a standardized behavior test, administered to shelter dogs in a shelter environment, may not be a reliable indicator of a dog’s future behavior. In my personal opinion, this study, coupled with the study of the fake hand test, has some pretty important implications for dogs.

Up on my Soapbox

Soapbox Time: These results (and those of Marder et al.) raise several questions. Perhaps single‐session tests designed to measure major behavior categories can work and all that is needed is additional attention to designing the right types of subtests. Or, perhaps it is more important to examine differences among shelters in terms of staff experience, time availability, adoption standards, and the number of animals that are cared for and attempt to design behavior assessments that can be modified to fit individual shelter’s needs. Or, perhaps it is time to rethink the entire use of these tests and to consider not using them at all.

Bring Out the Straw Man: Because these tests have become so entrenched in shelter and rescue dog culture, it is this last suggestion that is not only often overlooked, but also that has the potential to raise much ire. Typically, test proponents’ responses to this suggestion center around three objections, all of which qualify in one way or another as straw man arguments.

Straw man arguments are a well‐established type of rhetoric that involve first misrepresenting an opponent’s position (usually, as we will see, to ridiculous lengths), and then refuting that position (which is not difficult, seeing that the opponent’s arguments were distorted in the first place). As a result “attacking a straw man” creates the illusion of having effectively refuted or defeated an opponent’s proposition when in fact, all that has happened is that thoughtful discourse has been diverted or derailed altogether. (Not surprisingly, many politicians and their handlers are masters at engaging in Straw Man arguments).

These three Straw Men are commonly used whenever a beloved behavior evaluation test is questioned (each argument is followed by an explanation of its fallacy):

If we stopped using the [insert branded test name here] behavior test, we would not have a way to assess dogs’ behavior prior to putting them up for adoption. Setting up a false dichotomy: It is not an either/or issue. There are other, potentially better, approaches to monitoring and assessing shelter dog behavior than single‐session standardized tests. Not using the [***] test, does not require you to use nothing at all to assess behavior.

I have seen the tests work with my own eyes; if it prevents a single dog who is aggressive from going up for adoption from my shelter, it is worth using. False proposition: Marder’s data show that yes, some dogs are correctly identified as food aggressive. However, others are missed, and some dogs who are not aggressive are misidentified as such. A poor diagnostic test that gets one right once in a while cannot be defended as a valid diagnostic test.

But, what about the children? We cannot

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