Researchers Have Found a Way to Identify ADHD in Dogs · Kinship

My dogs are a lot of things: sweet, cuddly, stubborn, food-motivated, and yes, sometimes impulsive, inattentive, and hyperactive. But does that mean that, like both their human parents, they have attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD)? Surely that couldn’t be the case.

I mean, do we even have a way to measure this in pups? Is there even such a thing as a neurotypical versus neurodivergent dog? I’ve spent much of my own life coming to terms with — and now embracing — that I am neurodivergent, as are many other smart and talented people in creative fields. But in the four years I’ve worked in pet care, I have never heard experts refer to an official ADHD diagnosis in dogs. In fact, our vet expert Alycia Washington has written, “ADHD is a human diagnosis.” But that doesn’t mean ADHD-like symptoms aren’t present in dogs.

In fact, studies have found that 20 percent of dogs display hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity — all primary traits of ADHD. (Nemo, a dog featured in Netflix’s documentary Inside the Mind of a Dog was classified in the film as one of those dogs.) And now, Hungarian scientists have now developed a new way to screen dogs for ADHD behaviors and determine if they are “at risk” for ADHD symptoms.

Their study, published in July, looked at 1,872 family dogs and their humans. They used the “Dog ADHD and Functionality Rating Scale” (DAFRS), which looks at ADHD-related behavior in two ways: the presence of common ADHD symptoms and the extent to which these symptoms interfere with the dogs’ everyday activities.

If this sounds like something a school psychologist might employ to diagnose a child with ADHD, as someone who underwent that diagnosis process, I can tell you from experience: It’s incredibly similar. These dog researchers are applying the same approach they might take with a child by asking the question: How are these symptoms actually affecting the dogs and their ability to function?

“In human diagnostics, the presence of symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsivity alone does not necessarily indicate ADHD. A key element is functional impairment — that is, whether these symptoms have a negative impact on everyday life,” Dr. Nóra Bunford, clinical psychologist and human ADHD researcher, told Elite Institute of Biology from Eötvös Loránd University. Dr. Barbara Csibra, first author of the study, says that the researchers’ aim was ”to establish a reliable diagnostic system that enables more accurate identification of at-risk dogs.”

Per their published findings, this is how their system worked: “Dogs were classified as at-risk if they scored at least 26 points on the ADHD symptom scale and showed noticeable problems in at least one functional area.” Of all the dogs studied, 79 of the over 1,800, or just over four percent, dogs studied met this criterion.

“This prevalence rate is surprisingly similar to what has been reported in adults with ADHD, while the prevalence is somewhat higher in children and adolescents,” Dr. Márta Gácsi, lead researcher of the study said to Elite Institute of Biology. She added, though, that several factors impact this. For example, some dog parents may not recognize these severe ADHD symptoms in their dogs, while others do simply because they are more observant.

She added whether a dog is at risk of ADHD behaviors requires experts to weigh in: “When possible, we also include input from the dog’s trainer. This multi-faceted approach helps rule out other behavioral problems that may cause similar symptoms and reduces the chance of misdiagnosis,” she told the publication.

So, what happens if your dog does exhibit these behaviors? As Kinship has written, there are certain things you can do to help your pup if they are struggling with training because of inattention or hyperactivity. These tactics include: making training sessions shorter and combining them with calming activities like enrichment activities, like scent work. And if, during the training session, your dog gets frustrated, try to implement breaks or work on an easier skill that day.

As far as this research, there is no information that I can find that states whether the average public can access the ADHD-behavior screening any time soon. But for now, it sounds like experts may actually have found a workable way to diagnose ADHD behaviors in dogs. What does that mean? Well, in my case, if my dogs end up testing at-risk for ADHD traits, it’ll only further cement the fact that we are family.