Personality traits in companion dogs—Results from the VIDOPET

This database contains the raw data of the Vienna Dog Personality Test (VIDOPET) performed on 217 pet border collies. The test consists of 15 situations, the dogs’ behaviour during the test was evaluated using both video coding and video rating methods, and additionally the participating owners filled in a personality questionnaire about their dogs. The coded data were subjected to a two-step data reduction procedure (principal component analysis on each subtest followed by an exploratory factor analysis on the subtest components), which yielded five factors: Sociability-obedience, Activity-independence, Novelty seeking, Problem orientation, and Frustration tolerance. The reliability analyses of these factors included assessment of internal consistency, intra-observer, inter-observer, and test-retest reliability, as well as reliability between experimenters and test locations. The construct validity of the test was investigated by analysing the correlations between the results of the video coding, video rating, and the owners’ questionnaire assessment.