Is attachment to pet dogs linked to their behaviour?
Among both children and adults, attachment to the family dog is linked to responsiveness to training.
By Zazie Todd, PhD
This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you.
Some people are more attached to their dogs than
others. Recently, we wrote about a study
that found that people who relinquished their dog to animal shelters had lower
attachment to them than people who were keeping their dog. This week, we discuss a new study by Christy Hoffman et al that asks whether
there is a link between a dog’s behaviour and how attached the owner is to the
dog.
Hoffman, C.L., Chen, P., Serpell, J.A., & Jacobson, K. (2013). Do dog behavioral characteristics predict the quality of the relationship between dogs and their owners? Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin, 1 (1), 20-37
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. As an Etsy affiliate and Marks and Spencer affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
The study involved a questionnaire that was completed by 60
adults and 92 children from sixty dog-owning families. As far as we know, this
is the first study to look at attachment in children as well as their parents. The
families completed the questionnaire as part of a wider long-term study of
childhood and adolescence. Most of the
adults were female (88%), and they ranged in age from 30 to 62. The children
were from 11 to 18 years old. On average, families had owned their dog for
almost five years.
The dog’s behaviour was rated using a widely-established
questionnaire called the C-BARQ. Participants also answered questions about
their attitudes to pets in general, their responsibility for the dog (such as
feeding and walking it), and their attachment to the dog. A small group of
participants completed the questionnaire again a few months later to check for
test-retest reliability.
For both children and adults, more positive feelings about
pets in general, and taking more responsibility for the care of the dog, were
both linked to higher attachment to the dog. This is not surprising. After
controlling for this statistically, the authors found that attachment to the
dog was higher if the dog was rated as higher on the scales for trainability
and for separation problems. In other words, attachment is higher if the dog is
well-behaved and likes to spend time with its humans.
Interestingly, there was no effect of the dog’s stranger-related
aggression or fear on attachment.
However it should be noted that all of the dogs scored well on this and
so none of them presented serious problems.
Adults were more attached to their dog if it was rated
highly for attention-seeking, but this made no difference for children. Children’s
attitudes to pets and levels of attachment were both strongly correlated with
those of their parents. There was moderate agreement between children and
parents about how trainable the dog was, and on some but not all of the other
categories of the dog behaviour questions.
The study also looked at the effect of demographic
characteristics, although because of the sample size they classified race as either
Caucasian or not Caucasian. In terms of dog excitability there was an effect of
race; amongst Caucasians, attachment was lower for more excitable dogs, whereas
for non-Caucasians there was no effect of excitability on attachment. However,
the authors say it may not be race that is the important factor here, but other differences such as whether dogs were kept mainly in the house or yard. There were no gender differences in attachment.
This study looked at the relationship between attachment and
dog behaviour at one point in time; it isn’t possible to draw conclusions about
the direction of the relationship. For example, it could be that taking
responsibility for the dog’s care is a process that leads to higher attachment,
but it is also possible that those who don’t feel particularly attached pass on
responsibility to other members of the family.
It is very interesting that perceived trainability was
linked to attachment and this raises lots of possibilities for future research.
A recent meta-analysis
of whether dog personality traits are stable over time found that
responsiveness to training was one of the least stable traits in puppies, but
was more consistent in adult dogs. Further research into this trait is
warranted, and it should also be remembered that humans can learn to improve
their training abilities.
Would you say your dog is very responsive to training, or
not so much?
Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, writes The Pawsitive Post premium newsletter, and also has a column at Psychology Today. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, one dog, and two cats.
Useful links:
Reference
Fratkin, J., Sinn, D., Patall, E., & Gosling, S. (2013). Personality Consistency in Dogs: A Meta-Analysis PLoS ONE, 8 (1) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054907
Hoffman, C.L., Chen, P., Serpell, J.A., & Jacobson, K. (2013). Do dog behavioral characteristics predict the quality of the relationship between dogs and their owners? Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin, 1 (1), 20-37
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. As an Etsy affiliate and Marks and Spencer affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
