Dog Problem Behavior's Relationship with Owner Expectations and Attachment
Disciplines
Animal Studies | Other Psychology
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Problem behaviors exhibited by dogs are associated with negative outcomes in the human-dog relationship, and if left unaddressed, may result in the relinquishment of dogs to shelters. This study's purpose was to determine if participants who indicated problem behaviors and aggression in their adopted dogs would have significantly different levels of adoption satisfaction, perceived difficulty of ownership, and owner-dog attachment than those who did not. Sixty-eight survey responses measuring a variety of post-adoption outcomes from a largely White (86.8%) and female (83.8%) sample were included in Mann-Whitney U tests to evaluate each relationship. All but one adopter indicated that they were highly satisfied with their dogs, preventing statistical analysis of satisfaction, so that variable was substituted with expectations of ownership difficulty. While there were no significant differences between the aggression and non-aggression groups in either attachment (p = .129) or difficulty expectations (p = .059), the problem behavior group perceived their dogs to be more difficult to own than the non-problem behavior group (p = .008). These findings shed light on the relationship between problem behavior and post-adoption experiences of dog owners and can be applied in dog training, dog shelters, and individual human-dog relationships.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
RCHSS - Psychological Science
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Allison Martin
Dog Problem Behavior's Relationship with Owner Expectations and Attachment
Problem behaviors exhibited by dogs are associated with negative outcomes in the human-dog relationship, and if left unaddressed, may result in the relinquishment of dogs to shelters. This study's purpose was to determine if participants who indicated problem behaviors and aggression in their adopted dogs would have significantly different levels of adoption satisfaction, perceived difficulty of ownership, and owner-dog attachment than those who did not. Sixty-eight survey responses measuring a variety of post-adoption outcomes from a largely White (86.8%) and female (83.8%) sample were included in Mann-Whitney U tests to evaluate each relationship. All but one adopter indicated that they were highly satisfied with their dogs, preventing statistical analysis of satisfaction, so that variable was substituted with expectations of ownership difficulty. While there were no significant differences between the aggression and non-aggression groups in either attachment (p = .129) or difficulty expectations (p = .059), the problem behavior group perceived their dogs to be more difficult to own than the non-problem behavior group (p = .008). These findings shed light on the relationship between problem behavior and post-adoption experiences of dog owners and can be applied in dog training, dog shelters, and individual human-dog relationships.