Whether you care for a specific cat, dog or horse, or are simply passionate about animals, there are several resources for you here
Pet assessment scales
I have led the development of a suite of scientifically validated, psychometric tools developed alongside other researchers from the University of Lincoln. They are designed to help dog owners, behaviourists, and researchers objectively measure and quantify specific psychological traits and emotional states in dogs.
These scales convert questions about your dog’s responses into reliable scores that give greater insight into their behavioural predispositions. Noe validation of these scales has generally involved dogs over 6 months of age. Please see the related scientific literature for further details or contact me for expert help regarding their use.
How They Work and Where to Find Them
- The Questionnaires: You answer a series of specific questions about how your dog behaves in everyday or specific scenarios.
- The Scoring: The system calculates a score based on peer-reviewed algorithm models.
- The Results: You receive a score that helps you identify where your dog ranks compared to the average canine population and what high or low scores often imply.
- Access: They are free to use for individual pet owners. For commercial use, I am available to help support their appropriate use. Please contact me at Daniel@companionanimalconsulting.com for a quote for professional support.
Three Core Dog Temperament Scales
Whilst these are free to use, professional training in their application is advised, if you wish to use them clinically. Please contact me at Daniel@companionanimalconsulting.com for a quote for professional training, outlining your needs and goals.
- `PANAS (Positive and Negative Activation Scale): Analyses your dog’s baseline temperament in terms of their sensitivity to rewarding, positive experiences (Positive Activation) and punishing, unpleasant experiences (Negative Activation). There are thus two main outputs one for each aspect of temperament. You can access PANAS here.
- DIAS (Dog Impulsivity Assessment Scale): Measures a dog’s tendency to act impulsively, with little consideration of the consequences of their action. There are several dimensions to this, including the overall quality of their behavioural control processes, sensitivity to novelty and their persistence. Encouraging a dog to think before they act can greatly help with many behaviour problems. You can access DIAS here.
- CFQ (Canine Frustration Questionnaire): Evaluates how your dog handles unmet expectations, especially as they relate to limitations in their ability to control things. Subscales, within the output help to pinpoint where frustration tendencies may lie and the consequences of frustration. You can access CFQ here.
Assessment of Resilience
- L-CARS (Lincoln Canine Adaptability and Resilience Scale): Assesses your dog’s psychological resilience in terms of their adaptability/behavioural flexibility and perseverance. Evaluating your dog’s resilience can provide helpful insight into how they tolerate disruptions, handle daily life changes, and manage stress. For example, dogs that score low on the adaptability dimension are more prone to problem behaviours involving anxiety, fearfulness or aggression. You can access L-CARS here.
Evaluating and monitoring a dog’s fear and anxiety
- LSSS (The Lincoln Sound Sensitivity Scale) for Dogs : is used to retrospectively assess a dog’s behavioural reactivity to noises such as those associated with fireworks and thunderstorms. It measures both the intensity and frequency of specific stress-related behaviours (like hiding, shaking, panting, and pacing). A total score above 30 is used to indicate that a dog is suffering from noise phobia and likely requires professional intervention (such as from a veterinary behaviourist), but it is important that the patient is carefully assessed for potential sources of physical discomfort or pain—which can significantly heighten sound sensitivity.
The scale is widely used in both veterinary clinical practice and scientific research to:
- Establish a baseline for an individual dog’s sensitivity.
- Evaluate how well a dog is responding to interventions for this problem over time.
You can access LSSS here.
- LCAS (Lincoln Canine Anxiety Scale): measures the intensity and frequency of behavioural signs like pacing, panting, and hiding to determine the severity of an anxiety. Unlike LSS, which assesses a dog’s response over several episodes, LCAS is designed to be used to assess single incidents. It therefore only assesses the intensity and not the frequency of anxiety-related behaviours.
The scale measures two primary dimensions of anxiety:
- Passivity: Behavioural inhibition, cowering, freezing, and hiding.
- Activity: Active responses, panting, restlessness, pacing, and vocalisation.
You can access LCAS here.
Classifying a dog’s separation anxiety
Separation anxiety refers to a range of conditions which result in a dog becoming stressed when left by their owner. It is a serious welfare problem affecting many pet dogs. My work with Dr Luciana de Assis at Lincoln has shown that there are four main ways in which dogs may express their distress when left at home. Knowing what form of separation related problem your dog has can be important when trying to formulate more targeted intervention. Together with colleagues at Tech4Animals and Zigzag, we have developed an online calculator to help you determine the likelihood that your dog has each of the four forms. Please note this app is hosted externally it can be accessed here.
If you have a dog with a separation related problem, you might find my podcast series: Pet Behaviour Odysseys Season 1 helpful.
Older dog
“under construction”
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Dog Bite Risk Assessment
For many years, my clinical work has involved dog bites. Together with Forensic Psychologist Prof Todd Hogue, I have supervised several PhD students with a view to developing a rigorous approach to dog bite risk assessment. The outcome is the DBR-24, the first structured professional judgement tool in the field. Professional use depends on specific training and will be offered by myself and collaborators in the development of this tool : Professor Todd Hogue, forensic behaviourist and former police officer Dr Helen Howell and canine behaviour analyst Dr Ann Baslington-Davies. Details of these courses will appear on the Events section of this site, but if you want to make sure you don’t miss out, sign up for notifications from me.
Key review papers
Mills, D. S. (2025). A psychobiological framework for defining discrete emotions in animals. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 286, 106595.
This paper lays out the approach to problem behaviour I have developed over the last 30 years and which I am continuing to develop.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159125000930
Mills, D. S. (2022). Clinical animal behaviour: paradigms, problems and practice. Animals, 12(22), 3103.
This paper critiques some of the philosophical underpinnings to different approaches to studying problem behaviour. It highlights a number of common errors associated with scientific thinking in the field and the assessment of the evidence base (including statistical methods), while providing solutions to these issues.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12223103
Mills, D. S., Demontigny-Bédard, I., Gruen, M., Klinck, M. P., McPeake, K. J., Barcelos, A. M., … & Levine, E. (2020). Pain and problem behavior in cats and dogs. Animals, 10(2), 318.
This paper arose from a symposium in Washington DC and has a major effect on the field by increasing awareness of how pain can relate to problem behaviour, it also for the first time looked at the prevalence of heath issues in companion animals presenting with behaviour problems across a range of clinics internationally.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020318
Mills, D. S. (2017). Perspectives on assessing the emotional behavior of animals with behavior problems. Current opinion in behavioral sciences, 16, 66-72.
This paper describes the original approach used to assess discrete emotions in a clinical setting which we developed at the University of Lincoln.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.04.002
Mills, D. S. (2003). Medical paradigms for the study of problem behaviour: a critical review. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 81(3), 265-277.
This paper highlights issues with the approaches to problem behaviour which focus on describing things in terms of disorders, and implying that the brain is malfunctional in cases. I highlight the difference between behaviour being maladaptive versus malfunctional and the implications of this.