Exploring and Developing the Questions Used to Measure the Human–Dog Bond: New and Existing Themes

Abstract

Dogs play an important role in many western societies, providing companionship, emotional support, and assistance, as well as other more specialist roles. The literature reveals that many human–animal interaction (HAI) questionnaires exist to measure the human–dog bond (HDB). The first part of this study assessed how far existing questionnaires went in measuring HDB (defined as the unique, dynamic and reciprocated relationship between a person and dog, one in which each member can influence the other’s psychological and physiological state). A systematic literature review revealed that a common limitation in HDB questionnaires was a lack of questions based on the dog’s investment in the bond and, therefore, a failure to measure the two-way characteristic of the HDB. This led to the second part of the study: to identify novel themes relating to dog investment in the HDB from which new tool questions could be developed. This was investigated qualitatively using twelve semi-structured interviews on HDB, undertaken with participants from a variety of dog–guardian relationship types. HDB themes that emerged included ‘adaptation’, ‘understanding of a dog’s preferences, likes, and dislikes’, and ‘affirmation’. Subthemes included ‘boundaries’ and ‘expectations’ (within adaptation), ‘excitement’, ‘proximity’, ‘affection’, and ‘recall’ (within affirmation). The themes that arose provide a foundation from which to build new lines of questioning within HDB tools. Such questioning can better represent a dog’s investment in the HDB and, therefore, help create tools that reflect the reciprocal nature of a bond more accurately.

Modulation of dog–owner relationship and dog social and cognitive behavior by owner temperament and dog breed group

“…In this study, we found significant evidence for the owner temperament contribution for the dog-owner relationship as measured by the owner-answered questionnaire, while the dog social and cognitive behavior did not have a statistically significant effect on the dog-owner relationship. This affirms the critical notions of the owner-answered questionnaires to be one-sided, reflecting mostly the owner perspective of the relationship, instead of taking the dogs' perspective into account 68,69 . Also, multiple factors may contribute to the owner side of dog-owner relationship in addition to owner temperament/personality, such as family structure, positive activities with the dog or unwanted behavior by the dog [13][14][15]45,70 .…”

Genome-Wide Selection Signal Analysis to Investigate Wide Genomic Heredity Divergence between Eurasian Wild Boar and Domestic Pig

“…These findings may be one of the reasons for the low fertility of wild boars. Positive human–animal interactions greatly influence animal behavior, performance, and production, such as the influence of the emotional bond between humans and goats on their productive performance and the unique human–dog bond, as companion animals [ 52 , 53 ]. The sensitivity of pigs to the external environment and their emotional dependence on humans are also constantly being selected for during the long-term domestication process.…”