English Shepherd Personality

Dog Personality Survey

In 2015, 430 English Shepherd owners provided data for a study of personality traits in English Shepherds.  Data were gathered using the  “Dog Personality Questionnaire,” a survey tool which was developed & validated by Sam Gosling and Amanda Jones at University of Texas.

Summary of Results:

English Shepherds scored on the low side for fearfulness and aggression towards people and on the high side for engagement, companionability and responsiveness to training. Spay/neutered dogs scored higher for fearfulness (preliminary analysis appears to be statistically significant), aggression towards people, and playfulness & excitablilty.

Sample characteristics:

Sample size – All dogs, N = 430

Where was dog acquired?

  • Breeder = 83%
  • Shelter or Rescue = 13%
  • Other = 4%

Gender: Male = 50%, Female = 50%

How old is your dog?

  • < 6 mos = 4%
  • 6 – 18 mos = 16%
  • > 18 mos = 80%

For subgroup analyses, sample was restricted to dogs > 18 mos of age and acquired from breeder. Both spay/neuter & intact groups were evenly split between males & females.

  • Intact adults, N = 114
  • Spay/neutered adults, N = 149

Scale for interpreting results runs from 1 = 7, the higher the score the stronger the attribute

English Shepherd Happy
English Shepherd Personality