李璐

狗的生活可能看起來無憂無慮，但是根據(jù)新的研究，它們經(jīng)常處于焦慮狀態(tài)。

The life of a dog may seem carefree， but according to new research， the animals are often dealing with anxiety. The struggles of being a dog were discovered through a study conducted by the University of Helsinki in Finland， which found that a majority of the pets exhibit anxious traits.

According to the researchers， who studied the behaviour of more than 13，000 pet dogs in Finland， 72.5 percent of the pups exhibit traits such as noise sensitivity， fearfulness， fear of surfaces and heights， inattention， impulsivity， compulsion， separationrelated behaviour， or aggression. To understand how dogs experience anxiety， researchers asked pet owners to fill out an online questionnaire.

After analysing the 13，715 responses from owners of 264 dog breeds， including Bernese Mountain Dog， Labrador Retriever， Spanish Water Dog， Border Collie， researchers found the most common anxietyrelated behaviour was noise sensitivity， with 32 percent of dogs exhibiting the trait. According to the study， published in the journal Scientific Reports， fireworks are frequently the trigger for the behaviour， with the explosions causing fear in 26 percent of the dogs. General fearfulness was also common among pet dogs， with the trait affecting 29 percent of canines in the study. “Specifically， 17 percent of dogs showed fear of other dogs， 15 percent fear of strangers， and 11 percent fear of novel situations，” the authors wrote. Separationrelated behaviour and aggression were found to be the least common traits.

According to the researchers， gender did have a slight impact on anxiety， with male dogs found to be more often aggressive and impulsive， while female dogs were more often fearful. Age also played a part in the findings， with prevalence of noise sensitivity and fear of heights found to increase as the dogs got older. Breed impacts anxiety traits as well， with Spanish water dogs， Shetland sheepdogs， and mixed breed dogs most commonly displaying fearfulness， while fear of heights was most common in rough collie and mixed breed dogs， according to the study. From the findings， researchers have hypothesized that genetic makeup plays a large part in different types of anxiety， according to Medical News Today.

The researchers said that behaviour has a major genetic component. To decrease dogs anxieties， researchers suggest selecting nonanxious animals for breeding. Whats more， changes to living environment could help pets currently living with anxiety.

Reading Check

1. Why did researchers ask pet owners to fill out a questionnaire？

A. To know their pets living habits.

B. To find the most popular pet.

C. To study how dogs experience anxiety.

D. To learn their feelings about their pets.

2. Which was the most common anxietyrelated behaviour according to the research？

A. General fearfulness. B. Frequent aggression.

C. Long separation. D. Noise sensitivity.

3. Whats paragraph 4 mainly about？

A. Dogs changes when they got older. B. What impacted pets anxiety.

C. Different types of anxiety. D. What made pets fear.

Language Study

Sentence for writing

To decrease dogs anxieties， researchers suggest selecting nonanxious animals for breeding. 為了減少狗的焦慮，研究人員建議選擇非焦慮的動物進行繁殖。

【信息提取】suggest doing...意為“建議……”。

【句式仿寫】我建議換一種方法做這件事情。