Rescue dogs were reported as more fearful than control dogs. While Overall et al., 2019 found that fear negatively affected dogs’ problem solving behaviour in cognitive tests, this was specifically in relation to fear of noises. In the present study, neither the factor Fearfulness nor any of its corresponding facets were correlated with eye contact duration, number of tries to find the treat in Memory Test B, or stress behaviours in any of the four tests so it is not clear what effect general fearfulness may have on the behaviour of dogs during cognitive tests. 

Rescue dogs scored lower than controls in Activity/Excitability and its facets Playfulness and Active Engagement. This factor and these facets were all negatively correlated with stress behaviour during the Inferential Reasoning test indicating that rescue dogs that were less active and engaged may have found the test more stressful, however, there was no difference found between rescues and controls in performance or level of stress behaviours during this test. Roth et al., (2016) found that dogs that played more had lower concentrations of hair cortisol which may account for the lower levels of stress behaviours in dogs that scored higher in Activity/Excitability, Playfulness, and Active Engagement. In addition, the lower score in Active Engagement for rescue dogs coincides with the lower mean duration of eye contact indicating less social engagement in general.

Rescue dogs scored lower than controls in the factor Responsiveness to Training, and its facet Trainability. Bray et al., (2017) found that poor performance in cognitive measures such as problem-solving abilities and perseveration were associated with guide dog candidates failing out of training programs, suggesting that lower cognitive capabilities are related to reduced trainability. 

Rescue dogs scored higher than controls in Aggression Towards Dogs, however, this facet was not correlated with stress behaviours or performance in any of the tests and it is not clear what connection, if any, there may be between aggression and cognitive performance. Dogs adopted from shelters often display some form of aggressive behaviour, with a quarter, or more, of owners reporting aggression as a behavioural problem post-adoption

The MDORS survey measures three aspects of the relationship between a dog and their owner: Dog/Owner Interaction, Emotional Closeness, and Perceived Costs. There was a weak tendency for rescue dogs to score higher than controls in Perceived Costs. This was expected due to the higher prevalence of “problem behaviours” generally seen in rescue dogs -  72% of dogs adopted from a shelter exhibited what the owners perceived as behavioural problems. The lack of any difference between rescues and controls in the MDORS subscales Dog/owner Interaction or Emotional Closeness indicates that the quality of a dogs’ relationship with their owner is not affected by being a rescue, or by a slightly higher perceived cost. In addition, there was a negative correlation between Emotional Closeness and Perceived Costs – the closer the emotional bond between the dog and owner, the less likely the owner is to find the relationship difficult and highly costly. This suggests that a close emotional bond may help offset potential negative aspects of the relationship.