Despite being our oldest companions in human history, we continue to discover new things about dogs. One of these discoveries serves to explain how the behavior of dogs can be determined.
A recent study has revealed that the way dogs are raised and cared for can have an impact on the behavior of these lovely friends. The dogs of people who are more concerned with their dog’s needs become more self-confident, sociable, and non-harming dogs.
Dogs’ behavior is affected by people’s behavior
The study included 48 dog owners and their dogs. First, pet owners were asked to answer questions in a questionnaire about how they raised their dogs. Afterwards, the dogs were subjected to three different behavioral assessment tests in the laboratory. These tests examined dogs’ loyalty and communication between dogs and humans.
“We discovered that upbringing creates patterns in predicting dogs’ behavior and cognitive levels,” said Monique Udell, an animal behavior expert at Oregon State University. In other words, there is a serious connection between what the dog understands and how it behaves and how it was raised.
Researchers divided dog owners into three categories. They made this distinction in the same way that people communicate with their children. The behavior of the pets of dog owners who were divided into three groups as authoritarian (high expectation, high communication), authoritarian (high expectation, low communication) and liberating (low expectation, high communication) were examined.
The results showed that dogs in groups of domineering owners were able to solve puzzles and were better at both social and cognitive tasks. The research, published in the journal Animal Cognition, seems to lay the groundwork for other studies in the future. Despite thousands of years together, more work needs to be done to fully unravel the bond between humans and dogs.
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