Dog Owners' Interaction Styles: Their Components and Associations with Reactions of Pet Dogs to a Social Threat

Abstract

The bond dogs develop with their owner received increased attention in the last years but no study aimed at characterizing the way in which owners interact with their dogs in their daily life and how this might influence dog behavior. In order to examine how dog owners interact with their dogs, we first analyzed the behavior of 220 dog owners in 8 different standardized situations involving the owner-dog dyad. We extracted 3 behavioral factors related to “Owner Warmth,” “Owner Social Support,” and “Owner Control.” Further, we investigated whether owner personality, gender and age are associated with these three factors. Results indicated that older owners scored lower in “Owner Warmth” and in “Owner Social Support” and higher in “Owner Control” than younger owners. Furthermore, owners scoring high in “Owner Control” scored lower in the personality trait Openness and owners scoring high in “Owner Social Support” scored lower in the personality trait Conscientiousness. Finally, we also analyzed whether the dogs' reaction to an unfamiliar woman's threatening approach was associated with the owners' interaction styles. Results showed that dogs that searched for proximity of their owners during the threatening situation had owners scoring higher in “Owner Warmth,” as compared to dogs that reacted more autonomously, approaching the unfamiliar experimenter. Analogies between dog-owner interaction styles and human parenting styles are discussed considering the implications of the present findings for human social psychology as well as the practical relevance for dog welfare and human safety.

Effects of Stroking on Salivary Oxytocin and Cortisol in Guide Dogs: Preliminary Results

“…Most importantly, this study suggested, through an increase in salivary oxytocin levels, that gentle touching is beneficial for dogs not only while experiencing or after having experienced a stressful event [43,72], but also during a neutral situation.…”

Social Behavior of Pet Dogs Is Associated with Peripheral OXTR Methylation

“…However, it is important to notice that not all dogs seek proximity in the same way, suggesting that individual differences might play a role in shaping the relationship between a dog and its owner. In fact, it has been shown that the reactions of dogs during the Threatening Approach test are strictly associated with the interaction styles of their owners (Cimarelli et al, 2016), supporting the idea that owners can indeed serve as a safe haven for their dogs, but only if they show specific behavioral characteristics. Specifically, only if previous experiences provided the dog with the information that the caregiver was present and responsive.…”

“…The behavioral data were collected as part of a bigger project, and the methods and some of the results have been described by Cimarelli et al (2016). In summary, the pet Border Collies ( N = 217) participated in a modified version of the Threatening Approach test (Vas et al, 2005; Gácsi et al, 2013; Hernádi et al, 2015): the owner stood motionless behind the dog and held the leash.…”

“…Furthermore, the number of commands, attention sounds (e.g., clapping the hands), vocal praises and petting were counted in the DNA sample, Tug-of-war, Commands and Ball tests. Previous analyses showed that the behavioral variables analyzed during this test grouped in three factors, namely the “Owner Warmth” (characterized by a positive and warm communication and interaction style showed in positive contexts, e.g., play), “Owner Social Support” (characterized by the number of petting and praising given by the owner in stressful situations, e.g., DNA sample test) and “Owner Control” [mainly characterized by the number of commands; for a detailed description see (Cimarelli et al, 2016)].…”

“…We have shown that dog owners’ interaction styles vary along three components that are analogous to components of human parenting styles and that they are associated with how dogs cope with a socially stressful situation (Cimarelli et al, 2016). We hypothesize that methylation of the OXTR gene may play a role in mediating such a link between owner and dog behavior.…”