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Do you believe in dog? 2016

Showing posts with label relationship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label relationship. Show all posts

26 September 2016

What’s Behind Our Lasting Relationships with Dogs? Researcher Seeks Help

What’s Behind Our Lasting Relationships with Dogs? Researcher Seeks Help

Please welcome today's guest contributor, Karen Griffin, a PhD student at the University of Lincoln who is trying to figure what makes relationships with dogs work. Please read on, as she is hoping for your help!

Hi Mia & Julie,

I am currently working on a study to examine factors that affect successful dog relationships and placements.  I am using a new approach to do this, which involves dog owners and shelter/rescue staff assessing dogs using a set of game-like tests.
What makes some relationships work? Flickr Creative Commons
The abandonment of dogs is a problem that affects much of the world.  In the UK between 2014 and 2015, local authorities handled over 100,000 stray dogs.  In the US, the problem is even more monumental; recent estimates suggest that nearly four million dogs enter shelters nationally per year, and over one million of those are euthanized.  

These are frightening statistics, and science has taken notice in recent years, aiming to understand and help reduce this epidemic.  However, much of this research is narrow in focus and scope, by relying on the analysis of retrospective data, that’s collected by shelters when dogs are relinquished, or in the way it conceptualizes the dog-owner relationship.  In the case of the latter, the dog-human relationship is traditionally understood as a static, unchanging one (e.g. Prato-Previde et al., 2003; Marston et al., 2005).  At the same time, there are indications that our lifestyles and relationships with dogs are not fixed, but dynamic. 

Credit: Steve Benisty
This is where my PhD research steps in.  I have applied a very different approach, and have redefined the dog-owner relationship as a dynamic entity that changes over time.  Over the course of the relationship, conflict will inevitably arise, as it does in any close personal relationship, and it is the ability of one member of the party (i.e., the dog or the owner) to resolve the conflict. It is this conflict resolution that will determine if the relationship will continue and be successful or not.  The inability to resolve conflict could lead to the relationship failing and the dog being relinquished. 

So now the question is, what do we do about this?  How can we understand or predict which dogs and owners will be able to resolve conflict and thus which relationships will succeed?  My research has hypothesized that behavioural flexibility (i.e., adaptability) is central to this, so I am assessing this in both humans (i.e., long-term dog owners, dog adopters, and dog relinquishers) as well as dogs.  

 Game time
This is where I need help!  I created a citizen science study that dog lovers worldwide can join.  I have developed a set of four game-like tests that assess behavioural flexibility in dogs:
  • L-Shaped Food Finding Test
  • Time Alone Test
  • Three-Toy Test
  • Pointing Test

About you
I am seeking help from people in these two groups:  
  1. Long-term dog owners to participate with their own dog(s) (i.e. people who have owned their dog for at least three years)
  2. Animal shelters, rescue centres, rehoming organizations to participate with dogs without a current home
Time commitment
The study should take approximately 10 minutes per test plus 10 minutes for set-up and background survey completion.  An hour should be sufficient for everything.  Please note, you do not have to complete all four tests to participate.

Study website:
http://www.thedogrehomingproject.org

Dog owners link for questionnaire and games: http://www.thedogrehomingproject.org/want-to-get-your-dog-in-on-the-fun/

Participate with a shelter or rescue dog (dog without a current home): http://www.thedogrehomingproject.org/get-involved-contribute-to-the-science/work-or-volunteer-in-an-animal-shelter-or-for-a-dog-rescue/

Please don't hesitate to contact me should you have any questions: kgriffin@lincoln.ac.uk Thank you for considering contributing to this study of what makes relationships stick!

Karen Griffin, BA, MA, MPhil
University of Lincoln
School of Life Sciences

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shelter

5 March 2014

Attachment: measuring our (varying) relationships with dogs.

Attachment: measuring our (varying) relationships with dogs.

Hi Julie,

Right off the bat I need to say YES YES YES! 

Your last post about aggression and what we can learn from and about it WITHOUT the need to experience it was spot on. 

Are you THIS attached to your dog? (source)
You’re also right that my head is filled with glorious meta-analysis results right now, as well as perceptions and other measures (#allthemeasures!) as I start preparing my abstracts for submission to be part of the Canine Science Forum.

One of the small but quirky things I’ve noticed in the results of the perceived welfare of dogs survey, is that people seem to think their own pet dog has a much higher level of welfare than everyone else’s pet dog. Why would we think we take better care of our own dogs than anyone else? Now, this could be to do with the self-selected convenience sample of people who took the online questionnaire. Perhaps the 2,146 people who were interested and motivated enough to take the time to do the survey really are the very top of the pile of all dog owners, but I found it interesting all the same.

It got me thinking about our relationships with dogs (Ha! What’s new, right?!). I also happened to have a chat with Hal Herzog (while recording an upcoming episode of Human Animal Science) and, amongst many other things, we talked about how animals and pets aren’t universally beneficial for all people. Some people don’t even like their dogs. We know from extensive research into human psychology that our attitudes are major predictors of our behaviour. So are people who really love their animals more likely to take better care of them? (The answer is no, not always). Why is it that even people like us, who really find dogs fascinating and work with them daily, can feel more of a 'connection' with one individual dog, but not so much another?

Definitely attached to dog (source)
When faced with a question like this, how do we measure these differences scientifically? We can look at (usually self-reported by the human) measures, such as time per day spent in the company, or interacting/sharing activities with pet dogs. This is valuable, but does not necessarily indicate emotional closeness of a person to their dog.

Lucky for me, plenty of psychologists, including earlier members of the Anthrozoology Research Group have tackled this and worked hard to create scales that measure the human-animal bond. The Monash Dog-Owner Relationship Scale, or MDORS as it’s more affectionately known is a great example. MDORS is a series of questions that form a psychometrically sound and validated scale. 

 This scale was developed with the assistance of over 1,000 participants and comprises 28 items (statements that you agree/disagree with on a 5 point likert-style scale) across three subscales: Dog–Owner Interaction (e.g. “How often do you play games with your dog”), Perceived Emotional Closeness (e.g. “I wish my dog and I never had to be apart”), and Perceived Costs (e.g. "It is annoying that I sometimes have to change my plans because of my dog"). A scale like this can be used not just to assess how attached people are to their pet dogs, but also to explore how these attachments might vary between dogs, and with different groups of people (e.g. from different countries, with different cultural, work experience or education backgrounds, etc.), making it a very powerful tool for researchers. 
(excerpt from Dwyer et al, 2006)
Used in conjunction with other questionnaires to investigate areas like grief at the loss of a pet, responsible pet ownership practices by owners, oxytocin levels in dogs, or human health benefits derived from pet ownership; attachment measures, like MDORS, can help us learn more about the importance of attachment to successful relationships for both human and dogs.
How many dogs are you attached to? (Flickr)
You might remember Tammie King's research, that used a modified version of the Ainsworth Strange Situation to see what dogs did when separated from their familiar person  and approached by a stranger (in her case, helping to measure the canine trait of amicability through their reaction toward the stranger). Tammie also asked owners to complete the MDORS and used the results in interpreting the canine behavioural data analysis for her PhD.

 So often in our research, it's important to measure both sides of the story, because we've learned the experience of the human, or even the human's perception of the dog's experience, just don't match up to the dogs' experience.

 I'm pleased to see you'll be tackling topics like these this weekend in San Francisco at the Canine Science Symposium event - yet another great line up of fantastic canine scientists sharing science for everyone:
(Source: Photo Lab Pet Photography)

Meanwhile, I'm getting back to my research and pondering if attachment might relate to perceived welfare of dogs.

Looking forward to your next update,

 Mia

Further reading:

 Dwyer F., Bennett P.C. & Coleman G.J. (2006). Development of the Monash Dog Owner Relationship Scale (MDORS), Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 19 (3) 243-256. DOI:

Rohlf V.I., Bennett P.C., Toukhsati S. & Coleman G. (2010). Why Do Even Committed Dog Owners Fail to Comply with Some Responsible Ownership Practices?, Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 23 (2) 143-155. DOI: 

 Archer J. & Ireland J.L. (2011). The Development and Factor Structure of a Questionnaire Measure of the Strength of Attachment to Pet Dogs, Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 24 (3) 249-261. DOI:

Handlin L., Nilsson A., Ejdebäck M., Hydbring-Sandberg E. & Uvnäs-Moberg K. (2012). Associations between the Psychological Characteristics of the Human–Dog Relationship and Oxytocin and Cortisol Levels, Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 25 (2) 215-228. DOI:

© Mia Cobb | Do You Believe in Dog? 2014
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25 January 2013

Dogs and Cats in the Home: Happiness for all?

Dogs and Cats in the Home: Happiness for all?

(Source)
Hi Mia!

 Looking forward to hearing more about your upcoming conference, ‘When coping is not enough - Promoting positive welfare states in animals’.

I was recently thinking about positive welfare in animals, sort of by accident. This past Monday, I was part of a Cats In Context conference at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. The conference was put together by ISHAR, the Institute for the Study of Human Animal Relations. Last year’s conference covered The Future of Zoos -- and all those talks are available online -- and this year's focus was cats, cats and more cats. Topics included genetics, domestication, cognition, nutrition, behavior problems, vet and health issues, shelter and feral welfare, cats and wildlife and cats and hoarders. 
 
Apparently, all talks and discussions from Cats in Context will be posted on the ISAHR website so you can see how much coffee and grapes I consumed over the course of 7 hours.

Lucky for me, the conference came with a side of dogs! My talk covered Dogs and Cats in the Home. While approximately 15.3% of pet-owning households own a combination of cats and dogs, cats and dogs, as a unit, haven't receive that much attention from researchers.

Here’s a 100% made-up graph comparing the amount attention given to “Dog”, “Cat” and “Dog and Cat” behavior and cognition research. The point I'm making is that dogs get the bulk of the attention, cats seem to get much less and dogs and cats as a unit are way down at the bottom.

I think many people picture this when they hear Dogs and Cats in the Home:

(Source)
But when I took a look at the limited literature, it suggested that many of the dogs and cats living together were more like this:

(Source)
One study used a questionnaire and in-home observations to explore the nature of the relationship between dogs and cats already living in the same household. The overarching finding was that many relationships showed signs of “mutual amicability.” For example, the researchers found that many dogs and cats displayed, “a motivation to initiate mutual play.”

Additionally, 75% of dog and cat pairs displayed nose-to-nose contact which is characteristic of friendly and affiliative relationships, specifically between cats. So, it’s pretty awesome that the researchers found this behavior between dogs and cats.
(Nose-to-Nose behavior between a cat and a dog -- Source)
(Typical Nose-to-Nose behavior between cats -- Source)
One of the major factors contributing to successful relationships between dogs and cats seemed to be age of first encounter, suggesting that early introductions promote subsequent amicable relationships. 

Of course, not all dogs and cats living in the home have amicable relationships, but what this does remind us is that amicable relationships can and do exist, they are not just the "stuff of movies!"

What’s your experience with dogs and cats in the home?? And do tell more about your upcoming talk at the conference, ‘When coping is not enough - Promoting positive welfare states in animals.’

Bye for now!

Julie

Reference
Feuerstein N. & Terkel J. (2008). Interrelationships of dogs (Canis familiaris) and cats (Felis catus L.) living under the same roof, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 113 (1-3) 150-165. DOI:

© Julie Hecht 2013
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11 December 2012

The Science Surrounding Children & Dogs: Part 3 (The Ugly)

The Science Surrounding Children & Dogs: Part 3 (The Ugly)

Cute or feeding an unrealistic fantasy? (source)
Hey Julie,

You raise such an important point! 

In the same way that popular culture can influence our perceptions and interpretations of ‘cute’ in domains like body image and kawaii, photos of babies with dogs can set us up with unrealistic expectations that might lead to ugly situations and devastating outcomes.



 And it’s some of The Ugly side of the science surrounding children and dogs that I want to share with you today. Dogs can hurt children and children can hurt dogs. 

It’s ugly alright.

Dogs biting kids:
As you pointed out in your last post, part of the The Ugly is that dogs can and do bite babies and kids.

(source)
Dog bites are the most frequently reported type of animal bite to humans.

The risk factors for being bitten vary a little from study to study (as you'd expect given each study looks at a different population), but generally, it’s consistent that the kids most at risk were:

  • Aged five years or under (with the 5-10yr age group a close second);
  • Attempting to access the dog’s territory or a resource (toy/food/bone, etc.) sometimes with the dog on lead or chained in a yard, or
  • Provoking the dog (by stepping on; pulling the dog’s hair/ears; hitting or attempting to ‘discipline’ the dog or waking a sleeping dog);
  • At home or in a friend’s/neighbour’s/relative’s house (i.e. a dog known to the child and generally in the dog’s home environment)
  • Not directly supervised by an adult.
    • From Reisner et al., 2007 (source)
  • Boys appear more likely to be bitten by dogs not from their own households, but boys and girls have been shown to be bitten equally by dogs from their own households.
(source)

I emphasise most at risk, as obviously all people are at some risk of being bitten by any dog they encounter.

Dogs involved often have no prior history of biting children, although some have previously bitten adults or other animals.

 We don’t know the full story.
Most figures regarding dog bites coming from hospital reports or other health authorities. It’s been calculated that in the USA, over 900 dog bite injuries are treated in hospital emergency departments each day. The same study estimated that for every dog bite fatality; there are approximately 16,000 dog-bite related emergency department visits. Just staggering figures!
(source)

And yet, dog bites are most likely under-reported. Not all dog bites get treated at hospital and as such, many cases may go unreported. 

 A study from the 1980’s demonstrated that nearly half of 3,000 children (aged 4-18) surveyed reported being bitten by a dog in their lifetime. 
More than 36 times the rate reported to authorities!

Identification of the dog breeds involved is probably inaccurate. Dog breed identification for dogs involved in attacks are usually self-reported to health authorities by the victim or victim’s family. Recent research has demonstrated how hard it is for even dog experts to accurately identify dog breeds, so can you see where there might be an issue in the validity of this data?

Why are young kids at such high risk of being bitten?
(source)
It’s not the full story, but research has shown that the age groups most at risk don’t pay attention to dogs’ body language but focus their attention on the face. Children do misinterpret angry dog facial expressions as smiling and being happy. 
"My, what big teeth you have..."
An eye-tracking research study showed that for some reason, young children’s’ eyes focus in on the angry dogs’ mouth and teeth area instead of following the usual eye-nose-mouth scan pattern that they show for other faces. This information offers an important insight that may be used to develop education strategies for children and their interactions with dogs.

Kids abusing dogs:
The notion of children deliberately inflicting pain or suffering on dogs and other animals is distressing. 
But it happens.

A symptom of other problems
Children who abuse animals are reportedly twice as likely to have experienced sexual or physical abuse themselves compared to children who are not cruel to animals. 

They often come from households of domestic/family violence. 

They often experience parental alcoholism/unavailablility. 
(source)

Violent behaviour is believed to be learned by these children as a viable tool in relationships (i.e. this is how you relate to others) and/or is modelled from adult behaviour they have directly observed. 

Exerting ‘power’ over an animal may also assist children who feel otherwise powerless in such situations of family violence. 
It's incredibly sad. For everyone. The children and the dogs.

(source)
Motivations for animal cruelty by children have been cited as: 

  • displaced hostility against a person to an animal; 
  • expression of aggression; 
  • post-traumatic play; and 
  • to hurt someone else by hurting a animals (using the animal as a vehicle for emotional abuse). 
Younger children tend to fall into the ‘exploratory or curious’ (think ants and magnifying glasses) rather than ‘pathological’ or ‘delinquent’ classification used in describing categories of people engaging in animal abuse.

Animal abuse as a child lead to..?
Research has demonstrated associations between acts of childhood cruelty to animals and acts of serious, recurrent, interpersonal aggression/violence and other generalised anti-social behaviours as adults. 
(source)
Although it is tempting to suggest that animal cruelty exhibited in childhood leads to interpersonal violence in adulthood, it is considered a better conclusion that childhood home environment is a strong predictor of the development of many violent behaviours, often clustered together.

 Childhood experiences into adulthood:
Most fearful adults report their fear of dogs began in childhood. However, being attacked as a child doesn’t necessarily mean you will be fearful of dogs as an adult. 

 Most adults are dog-fearful following a direct experience of dog bite rather than being influenced by an attack event that happened to someone they knew or from verbal information/education passed to them by others. 

 Amazingly, being bitten as a child has not been associated with a dislike of dogs. Positive experiences with dogs prior to being bitten made children less likely to become dog-phobic adults. It’s not fully understood why some children can recover and others retain their fearfulness into adulthood, sometimes even suffering ongoing PTSD.

(source)
Studies that utilised dogs (and other animals) with groups of children deemed 'at risk' of engaging in anti-social behaviours  have found that programs comprising a mix of discussions of interpersonal issues and conflict management along with the proper care and obedience training of dogs (and other animals) have demonstrated decreased fear of dogs/animals and improved attitudes towards self and others – sound familiar? 

 It’s The Good shining through, even in the face of The Ugly!

So there you have it Julie. 
Some of the science surrounding children and dogs: the good, the bad and the ugly.

I’m really hoping you can tell me about something fun and frivolous in your next post!

Mia
What hasn't been in any other image I've used in these three posts? Parental supervision! (source)

Further reading:
Meints K., Allen K. & Watson C. (2011). Atypical face-scan patterns in children misinterpreting dogs facial expressions evidence from eye-tracking, Injury Prevention, 16 (Supplement 1) A173-A173. DOI:

Shewell P.C. & Nancarrow J.D. (1991). Dogs that bite., BMJ, 303 (6816) 1512-1513. DOI:

Reisner I.R., Shofer F.S. & Nance M.L. (2007). Behavioral assessment of child-directed canine aggression, Injury Prevention, 13 (5) 348-351. DOI:

Weiss H.B. Incidence of Dog Bite Injuries Treated in Emergency Departments, JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 279 (1) 51-53. DOI:

Ozanne-Smith J., Ashby K. & Stathakis V.Z. (2001). Dog bite and injury prevention--analysis, critical review, and research agenda., Injury prevention : journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention, 7 321-326. PMID:

Avner J.R. & Baker M.D. (1991). Dog bites in urban children., Pediatrics, 88 (1) 55-57. PMID:

Ascione F.R. (1993). Children Who are Cruel to Animals: A Review of Research and Implications for Developmental Psychopathology, Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 6 (4) 226-247. Other: Link

 Currie C.L. (2006). Animal cruelty by children exposed to domestic violence, Child Abuse & Neglect, 30 (4) 425-435. DOI:

ARLUKE A., LEVIN J., LUKE C. & ASCIONE F. (1999). The Relationship of Animal Abuse to Violence and Other Forms of Antisocial Behavior, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 14 (9) 963-975. DOI:

McPhedran S. (2009). Animal Abuse, Family Violence, and Child Wellbeing: A Review, Journal of Family Violence, 24 (1) 41-52. DOI:

Duncan A. & Miller C. (2002). The impact of an abusive family context on childhood animal cruelty and adult violence, Aggression and Violent Behavior, 7 (4) 365-383. DOI:

Zasloff L.R., Hart L.A. & Weiss J.M. (2003). Dog training as a violence prevention tool for at-risk adolescents, Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 16 (4) 352-359. DOI:

Doogan S. & Thomas G.V. (1992). Origins of fear of dogs in adults and children: The role of conditioning processes and prior familiarity with dogs, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 30 (4) 387-394. DOI:

© Mia Cobb 2012
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