A recent study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine challenges a 2024 Texas A&M University report that stated 99.12% of dogs in the U.S. have at least one moderate to serious behavioral issue. The original findings included behavior concerns such as separation and attachment behaviors in 85.9% of dogs, aggression in 55.6%, and fear and anxiety in 49.9%. These conclusions were widely reported in 2025, including by dvm360.
Read More
Using the same data from the Dog Aging Project, the reanalysis published in November 2025 in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior found lower prevalence rates. It indicated that moderate to serious aggression was present in 1.2% to 30.4% of dogs, fear in 14.1% to 28.2%, and separation-related behavior in 9.3%. The original study, led by Bonnie V. Beaver, DVM, professor at Texas A&M, suggested that almost all pet dogs have behavioral issues, which often go unaddressed by vets.
The researchers, James A. Serpell, PhD, and Lauren R. Powell, PhD, noted that the methods used by Beaver warranted scrutiny due to their implications for dog behavior policy. They argued that the initial analysis misclassified behaviors by treating individual survey responses as independent, rather than averaging responses within behavior subscales.
Both studies utilized the mini Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (mini C-BARQ), where respondents rate behaviors on a 0-to-4 scale. Serpell and Powell pointed out that the original study combined separate behavioral subscales inappropriately, resulting in inflated estimates. For instance, scores for separation-related behaviors, which were found clustered near zero, were inaccurately combined with attachment/attention-seeking behaviors, which skewed high.
Changing the threshold for what constitutes problematic behavior also affected results. The original threshold of 2 for labeling aggression as moderate allowed typical behaviors, such as a dog growling at an approaching figure, to be classified as serious aggression. When the threshold was raised to 3, reported rates dropped significantly.
Despite the reanalysis suggesting lower rates of behavior problems, a substantial percentage of dogs still exhibited concerning behaviors under the new thresholds. For example, 30.4% were classified as having moderate to serious dog-directed aggression at the lower threshold, and persistent barking occurred in 46.9% of dogs.
Serpell and Powell emphasized the need for representative samples to better define the true prevalence of behavior problems in dogs, acknowledging the limitations of the Dog Aging Project's sampling methods. They stated that further assessments are needed to establish clear national prevalence figures for canine behavioral issues.