The Other End of the Leash: An Experimental Test to Analyze How Owners Interact with Their Pet Dogs
PRÉPARATION DE L'INSTRUCTEUR
concepts
PROTOCOLE ETUDIANT
All methods described here were approved in accordance with GPS guidelines and national legislation by the Ethical Committee for the use of animals in experiments at the University of Veterinary Medicine of Vienna (Ref: 09/10/97/2012 and 10/10/97/2012).
1. Participant recruitment
- Recruit 220 owners (here, 187 females, 33 males; mean age ± SD = 38.64 ± 13.57 years, range 13-72 years) of pet Border Collies and invite them to take part in a behavioral study with their dogs (here, 125 females (45 neutered) and 95 males (32 neutered); mean age ± SD = 48.07 ± 42.43 months).
2. Behavioral testing procedure
- Pre-test
- Welcome the owner and the dog to the lab and invite them to familiarize with the experimental room (6 m X 5 m, see Figure 1).
- Explain to the owner the overall procedure for 5 min while the dog is free to explore the room.
- Videotape the tests using four digital video cameras placed at the four corners of the room (black dots named "Camera" in Figure 1) connected to a video-recording station outside the test room.
- Food Choice Test
- Have the owner sit on a chair on one side of the room (orange square; "Chair (Food choice)" in Figure 1).
- Provide the owner with a questionnaire to record demographic information of both dog and owner (i.e. owner age, owner gender, dog age, dog sex, dog neuter status) so that the owner does not influence the dog during the set-up and choice.
- Put the dog on a leash and tie it to the wall directly opposite to the owner (orange curved line; "Leash (Food choice + Teaching)" in Figure 1).
- Take two plates (one with a piece of sausage and one empty) from a table positioned beside the owner (orange square; "Table" in Figure 1).
- Walk towards the dog and place the two plates on the floor in front of the dog, 1 m from each other and 1.5 m from the dog (orange squares; "Plate 1 (Food choice)" and "Plate 2 (Food choice)" in Figure 1).
- Walk behind the dog. Stand behind the dog looking at the floor.
- Have the owner stand up, walk to the empty plate and crouch next to it.
- Have the owner pick the plate up and show to the dog that this plate is interesting and delicious.
NOTE: Instruct the owner to show preference for the empty plate for ~ 5 s, but otherwise let the owner behave as desired. - Have the owner go back to the chair and continue filling in the questionnaire.
- Once the owner sits back on the chair, release the dog from the leash and allow it to approach one plate.
- Once the dog is within 15 cm from one plate, walk to pick up the other plate.
- Hold the leash and bring the dog back to the starting position (orange curved line in Figure 1). Collect the other plate from the floor and bring both plates back to the table.
- Repeat the procedure (steps 2.2.2 – 2.2.12) six times.
- DNA sample collection
- Have the owner hold the dog by the collar/harness in the "DNA sample area" (Figure 1). Explain that DNA samples will be collected from the inner side of the dog's mouth. Instruct that the owner can talk to and pet the dog during this test. Allow the owner to behave as desired.
- Take the samples by crouching close to the dog and gently rotating a cotton swab in the inner side of the mouth. Repeat with a second swab.
- Repeat the procedure twice, one for each side of the dog's mouth.
- Reunion after separation
- Have the owner leave the experimental room by "Door 1" (Figure 1) for 3 min, while the dog stays inside the room unleashed and free to move.
- Have the owner go back inside the room by "Door 1" and pause next to the door (blue square; "Owner position 2 (Reunion + Commands)) for 5 s without interacting with the dog. Have the owner greet the dog for 30 s. Instruct the owner to greet the dog as done at home.
- Tug-of-war play
- Have the owner use a rope toy to play tug-of-war with the dog for 30 s. Instruct the owner to play with the dog as they normally would in everyday play situations.
- T-shirt
- Have the owner put a T-shirt on the dog by placing it over the head, putting each front paw into the sleeves one after the other, and tying a knot at the bottom of the T-shirt on the dogs' back.
- Have the owner walk around the room ignoring the dog. After 30 s, have the owner remove the T-shirt off the dog. Instruct the owner not to talk during the procedure, but behave as desired.
- Basic commands
- Have the experimenter crouch on one side of the room (grey square; "Experimenter position (Commands)" in Figure 1) behind a box full of crumpled newspapers.
- Have the owner stand on the opposite side (grey square; "Owner position 1 (Commands) + Owner position (Ball play)" in Figure 1).
- Have the owner call the dog so that both the owner and the dog are in the grey square ("Owner position 1 (Commands) + Owner position (Ball play)"), the dog facing the doors, the owner facing the dog.
- Search for something in a box full of crumpled newspaper to distract the dog from the owner's commands.
- Have the owner issue three simple commands to the dog.
- First, have the owner command the dog to sit. Once the dog sits, have the owner command the dog to lay down. Once the dog lays down, have the owner command the dog to stay.
- After the stay command, have the owner walk towards the experimenter and wait for 15 s besides the experimenter, 5 m from the dog (blue square; "Owner position 2 (Reunion + Commands)" in Figure 1), facing the dog. Have the owner call the dog. The owner can praise and talk to the dog during the task.
- Teaching
- Have the owner tie the dog on a 1 m leash to the wall (curved line; "Leash (Food choice+ Teaching)" in Figure 1) and walk 2 m away from the dog (red dotted area; "Teaching area" in Figure 1).
- Have the owner show the dog how to remove the lid from a bin containing a piece of sausage following this sequence:
- Hold a piece of sausage in one hand while removing the lid of the bin with the other hand. Put the food in the bin and cover it back. Remove the lid of the bin and show the food inside the bin.
- Have the owner repeat the procedure four times.
NOTE: The owner can talk and look at the dog during the whole procedure.
- Ball play
- Have the owner stand in a specific location of the room (grey square; Ball play; Figure 1) and throw a tennis ball towards the opposite side of the room. Have the owner to ask the dog to retrieve the ball.
- Have the owner repeat the procedure three times.
NOTE: Instruct the owner to play with the dog as they normally would in everyday play situations.
3. Behavioral coding
- Analyze the videos taken during testing and record the following behaviors on a spreadsheet:
- Score the behavioral variables; communication style, active social support, warmth and play style on a 4-point scale, and score the enthusiasm and authoritarian behaviors on a 3-points scale. See Table 1 for definitions of each value.
- Count the number of commands, praises, petting and attention sounds in the situations indicated in Table 1.
- Provide a second coder the list and definitions of the coded variables. Have the second coder code 20% of the videos to calculate inter-rater reliability.
4. Data processing
- Transform all count variables in 2- or 4-point scales as described in Table 2.
- Run an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) with Oblimin rotation on all behavioral variables. Define the number of factors to be extracted based on the Scree plot. Extract the factors using a regression method and excluding missing values list wise.
- Calculate the internal consistency of the extracted factors using Cronbach´s alpha. Compare the data provided by the main coder and a second coder using Cohen´s kappa to have a measure of the inter-rater reliability.
The Other End of the Leash: An Experimental Test to Analyze How Owners Interact with Their Pet Dogs
Learning Objectives
Exploratory Factor Analysis
The EFA conducted on the behavioral variables analyzed during the Owner Interaction Style test revealed three factors accounting for 29.47% of the total variance. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test resulted in a value of 0.69. The first factor was labeled "Owner Warmth" (variance explained: 17.41%, internal consistency: Cronbach´s α = 0.77) and it included the following behavioral variables: enthusiasm, frequency of praising, and play style during Ball play; enthusiasm, frequency of praising, and play style during Tug-of-war play; warmth during the Reunion after separation; communication style during Teaching; communication style during Food choice. The second factor, labeled as "Owner Social Support" (variance explained: 6.64%; internal consistency: Cronbach´s α = 0.68) included the following behaviors: social support, frequency of petting, and frequency of praising during the DNA sample; social support during the T-shirt; frequency of petting, and frequency of praising during Basic commands. The third factor was labeled "Owner Control" (variance explained: 5.41 %; internal consistency: Cronbach´s α = 0.49) and it included: frequency of commands during Ball play; frequency of attention sounds and commands during Tug-of-war play; frequency of commands during Basic commands.
Relationship between the extracted factors
The factors "Owner Warmth" and "Owner Social Support" correlated positively with each other (Pearson´s r = 0.53, p < 0.01, Figure 2), while "Owner Control" seemed to be independent from the other two factors ("Owner Control" vs. "Owner Warmth"; Pearson´s r = – 0.03, p > 0.05; "Owner Control" vs. "Owner Social Support"; Pearson´s r = – 0.05, p > 0.05).
Inter-rater reliability
The agreement between the two independent coders ranged between good to excellent depending on the variable (Cohen´s kappa = 0.72 – 0.94).
Associations between the owners´ demographic characteristics and the extracted factors
In a previous study18, we found that the age of the owner was negatively associated with "Owner Warmth" (Pearson´s r = – 0.25, p < 0.01, Figure 3) and with "Owner Social Support" (Pearson´s r = – 0.24, p < 0.01, Figure 4), but no significant correlation was found with "Owner Control" (Pearson´s r = 0.12, p > 0.05). Furthermore, we found that female owners scored higher in "Owner Warmth" than male owners (Pearson´s r = 0.15, p < 0.05), but not in "Owner Social Support" (Pearson´s r = 0.13, p > 0.05) and "Owner Control" (Pearson´s r = 0.04, p > 0.05). Additionally, we showed that "Owner Control" was negatively associated with the personality factor called "Openness" (Pearson´s r = – 0.22, p < 0.01) and that "Owner social Support" was negatively associated with the personality factor called "Conscientiousness" (Pearson´s r = – 0.16, p < 0.05).
Associations between the extracted factors and dog behavior
The present methodology, analyzing various aspects of a dog owner interaction style, allows for investigating the effects of the owner's behavior on the behavior of his/her dog. In a previous study18, we analyzed whether the reaction of a dog to a stressful situation (that is, a stranger approaching the dog in a threatening manner) is dependent on the behavior of the owner. There, we found that the likelihood that a dog would hide behind the owner when approached by a threatening stranger was higher for dogs whose owners scored higher in "Owner Warmth" than in dogs whose owners scored lower (Pearson´s r = 0.16, p < 0.05). Similarly, when the stranger was closer than 2 m to the dog-owner dyad, we found that dogs that stepped back towards the owner or remained passive throughout the threatening approach had owners which scored higher in "Owner Warmth" than dogs that approached the stranger (either in a friendly, appeasing or aggressive manner) (Multinomial regression model: X2 = 8.94, p < 0.05). In addition, we found that the likelihood that a dog would show aggression towards the threatening stranger was higher in dogs, whose owners scored higher in "Owner Control" than in dogs whose owners scored lower in this factor (Pearson´s r = – 0.15, p < 0.05).
Figure 1: Experimental set-up. The figure represents the experimental room in which the tests are performed. The room has two doors (Door 1 and Door 2) on one side of the room and four cameras placed at the four corners of the room ("Camera"). The figure shows the position of the owner, the dog, and the experimenter throughout the tests as well as the position of the chair, the table, and the plates used during the Food choice test. Finally, it shows the position of the areas in which the DNA sample collection and the Teaching test are performed. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 2: Positive association between "Owner Warmth" and "Owner Social Support" factors (Pearson´s r = 0.53, p < 0.01). Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 3: Negative association between "Owner Warmth" and the age of the owner (in years) (Pearson´s r = – 0.25, p < 0.01). Older owners scored lower in "Owner Warmth" than young owners. This figure has been adapted from 18. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Figure 4: Negative association between "Owner Social Support" and the age of the owner (in years) (Pearson´s r = – 0.24, p < 0.01). Older owners scored lower in "Owner Social Support" than young owners. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
| Sciences du comportement | Type | Definition | Test in which it was coded | ||
| Communication style | Score | 1: The owner expresses their preference in a cold way and never looks at the dog; 2: The owner expresses their preference in a cold way but looks at the dog at least once but no longer than for 2 sec; 3: The owner communicates with the dog using a friendly, high-pitched tone of voice and looks at the dog more than once. The owner does not smile; 4: The owner communicates with the dog in a friendly, high-pitched tone of voice, smiles and looks at the dog for almost the entire trial | Food choice, Teaching | ||
| Enthusiasm | Score | 1: The owner plays with the dog showing low energy and no involvement; 2: The owner plays with the dog showing medium energy and scarce involvement, 3: The owner plays with the dog showing high energy and high involvement | Ball play, Tug-of-war play | ||
| Praising | Frequency | Verbal utterances pronounced in a positive and friendly tone of voice (e.g., German equivalents of “Well done!”, “Super!”) | Ball play, Tug-of-war play, DNA sample, Basic commands | ||
| Petting | Frequency | Pats, strokes, and scratches | DNA sample, Basic commands | ||
| Play style | Score | 1: The owner does not laugh or smile during the play session, continuously gives commands and uses a strong/harsh tone of voice. The owner never allows the dog to win the game; 2: The owner does not laugh or smile during the play session and might give commands to the dog using a strong/harsh tone of voice. The owner never allows the dog to win the game; 3: The owner is cheerful and enthusiastic during the play session but does not allow the dog to win the game; 4: The owner is cheerful and enthusiastic during the play session and lets the dog win the game. | Ball play, Tug-of-war play | ||
| Warmth | Score | 1: The owner is avoidant and pushes down the dog if she tries to jump on her/him. The owner does not greet actively the dog and could give some commands to control the behavior of the dog; 2: The owner is avoidant but can accept passively the greetings of the dog. The owner does not greet actively the dog and could give some commands like “sit” or “down” to control the behavior of the dog; 3: The owner actively greets the dog and speaks to the dog in a friendly and high pitched tone of voice; 4: The owner clearly smiles and greets the dog in an excited way speaking to the dog in a friendly and high pitched tone of voice | Reunion after separation | ||
| Social Support | Score | 1: The owner restricts the movements of the dog using strength, never reassures the dog nor verbally, nor physically and speaks with the dog using a harsh tone of voice; 2: The owner restricts the movements of the dog using strength, never reassures the dog nor verbally, nor physically but does not use a harsh tone of voice. 3: The owner might reassure the dog verbally and/or physically but not continuously. The owner speaks to the dog in gentle way and could praise the dog at the end of the test; 4: The owner reassures the dog verbally and/or physically continuously. The owner speaks to the dog in gentle way and praises the dog during and at the end of the test | DNA sample, T-shirt | ||
| Commands | Verbal utterances pronounced using an imperative tone of voice (e.g., German equivalents of “sit!” or “stay!”) | Ball play, Tug-of-war play, Basic commands | |||
| Attention sounds | Frequency | Claps, whistles, tongue, or palatal clicks | Ball play, Tug-of-war play | ||
| Authoritarian behaviors | Score | 1: The owner does not raise the tone of voice neither forces the dog in a determined position; 2: The owner raises the tone of the voice; 3: The owner goes physically forces the dog in a determined position | Basic commands | ||
Table 1: List and definitions of the behaviors analyzed during the Owner Interaction Style test. This table has been adapted from 18.
| Test | Sciences du comportement | Transformation | Distribution |
| DNA sample collection | Commands | N = 0 -> score 1 | 34.60% |
| N = 1 – 2 -> score 2 | 37.10% | ||
| N = 3 – 5 -> score 3 | 17.10% | ||
| N = 6 – 19 -> score 4 | 11.20% | ||
| Attention sounds | N = 0 -> score 1 | 77.80% | |
| N = 1 – 5 -> score 2 | 22.20% | ||
| Petting | N = 0 -> score 1 | 25.40% | |
| N = 1 – 2 -> score 2 | 26.30% | ||
| N = 3 – 5 -> score 3 | 26.80% | ||
| N = 6 – 20 -> score 4 | 21.50% | ||
| Praising | N = 0 – 4 -> score 1 | 25.40% | |
| N = 5 – 9 -> score 2 | 26.30% | ||
| N = 10 – 14 -> score 3 | 26.80% | ||
| N = 15 – 20 -> score 4 | 21.50% | ||
| Tug-of-war play | Commands | N = 0 -> score 1 | 38.00% |
| N = 1 – 2 -> score 2 | 24.50% | ||
| N = 3 – 5 -> score 3 | 27.40% | ||
| N = 6 – 13 -> score 4 | 10.10% | ||
| Attention sounds | N = 0 -> score 1 | 68.60% | |
| N = 1 – 13 -> score 2 | 31.40% | ||
| Praising | N = 0 – 4 -> score 1 | 24.80% | |
| N = 5 – 9 -> score 2 | 27.60% | ||
| N = 10 – 14 -> score 3 | 20.00% | ||
| N = 15 – 20 -> score 4 | 27.60% | ||
| Basic commands | Commands | N = 3 – 6 -> score 1 | 29.20% |
| N = 7 – 9 -> score 2 | 26.10% | ||
| N = 10 – 14 -> score 3 | 22.80% | ||
| N = 15 – 50 -> score 4 | 21.90% | ||
| Petting | N = 0 -> score 1 | 13.20% | |
| N = 1 – 2 -> score 2 | 47.90% | ||
| N = 3 – 4 -> score 3 | 19.60% | ||
| N = 5 – 10 -> score 4 | 19.30% | ||
| Praising | N = 0 -> score 1 | 23.20% | |
| N = 1 -> score 2 | 33.30% | ||
| N = 2 -> score 3 | 19.80% | ||
| N = 3 – 10 -> score 4 | 23.70% | ||
| Ball play | Commands | N = 0 -> score 1 | 23.70% |
| N = 1 – 2 -> score 2 | 19.80% | ||
| N = 3 – 5 -> score 3 | 30.00% | ||
| N = 6 – 77 -> score 4 | 26.50% | ||
| Attention sounds | N = 0 -> score 1 | 42.50% | |
| N = 1 – 16 -> score 2 | 57.50% | ||
| Praising | N = 0 -> score 1 | 35.30% | |
| N = 1 – 2 -> score 2 | 29.00% | ||
| N = 3 – 4 -> score 3 | 19.80% | ||
| N = 5 – 10 -> score 4 | 15.90% |
Table 2. Data processing of the behavioral variables initially coded as counts. The number of commands, praising, and petting are transformed into 4-point scales while the number of attention sounds are transformed into 2-point scales. This table has been adapted from 18.
List of Materials
| Videocamera | Samsung | ZA TZ6V3Z300274W | |
| Videocamera | Samsung | ZA TZ6V3Z300316J | |
| Videocamera | JVC | 066C1124 | |
| Videocamera | JVC | 066C1123 | |
| Chair | n.a. | n.a. | Material: plastic and metal. Color: black. With backrest and seat. Overall measures: 39 x 47 x 77 cm. Seat measures: 39 x 34 x 45 cm. |
| Leash | n.a. | n.a. | Material: nylon. Color: black. Measures: 2 x 300 cm. |
| Plates | n.a. | n.a. | Material: pottery. Color: white. Diameter: 25 cm. |
| Cotton swabs | n.a. | n.a. | Material: cotton. Color: white. Length: 7.6 cm. |
| Dog toy: rope | n.a. | n.a. | Material: cotton. Color: red. Diameter: 5 cm. Length: 30 cm |
| T-shirt | n.a. | n.a. | Material: cotton. Size M. Measures: 70 x 60 cm. |
| Carton box | n.a. | n.a. | Material: carton. Color: brown. Measures: 50 x 35 x 25. |
| Crumpled newspaper | n.a. | n.a. | Material: paper. From 3-4 newspapers. |
| Bin + lid | n.a. | n.a. | Material: plastic. Shape: round. Color: grey. Diameter: 20 cm. Height: 28 cm |
| Tennis ball | n.a. | n.a. | Material: rubber, nylon. Color: yellow. Diameter: 6.5 cm |
Lab Prep
It has been suggested that the way in which owners interact with their dogs can largely vary and influence the dog-owner bond, but very few objective studies, so far, have addressed how the owner interacts with the dog. The goal of the present study was to record dog owners' interaction styles by means of objective observation and coding. The experiment included eight standardized situations in which owners of pet dogs were asked to perform specific tasks including both positive (i.e. playing, teaching a new task, showing a preference towards an object in a food searching task, greeting after separation) and potentially distressing tasks (i.e. physical restriction during DNA sampling, putting a T-shirt onto the dog, giving basic obedience commands while the dog was distracted). The video recordings were coded off-line using a specifically designed coding scheme including scores for communication, social support, warmth, enthusiasm, and play style, as well as frequency of behaviors like petting, praising, commands, and attention sounds. Exploratory Factor Analysis of the 20 variables measured revealed 3 factors, labeled as Owner Warmth, Owner Social Support, and Owner Control, which can be viewed as analogues to parenting style dimensions. The experimental procedure introduced here represents the first standardized measure of interaction styles of dog owners. The methodology presented here is a useful tool to investigate individual variation in the interaction style of pet dog owners that can be used to explain differences in the dog-human relationship, dogs' behavioral outcomes, and dogs stress coping strategies, all crucial elements both from a theoretical and applied point of view.
It has been suggested that the way in which owners interact with their dogs can largely vary and influence the dog-owner bond, but very few objective studies, so far, have addressed how the owner interacts with the dog. The goal of the present study was to record dog owners' interaction styles by means of objective observation and coding. The experiment included eight standardized situations in which owners of pet dogs were asked to perform specific tasks including both positive (i.e. playing, teaching a new task, showing a preference towards an object in a food searching task, greeting after separation) and potentially distressing tasks (i.e. physical restriction during DNA sampling, putting a T-shirt onto the dog, giving basic obedience commands while the dog was distracted). The video recordings were coded off-line using a specifically designed coding scheme including scores for communication, social support, warmth, enthusiasm, and play style, as well as frequency of behaviors like petting, praising, commands, and attention sounds. Exploratory Factor Analysis of the 20 variables measured revealed 3 factors, labeled as Owner Warmth, Owner Social Support, and Owner Control, which can be viewed as analogues to parenting style dimensions. The experimental procedure introduced here represents the first standardized measure of interaction styles of dog owners. The methodology presented here is a useful tool to investigate individual variation in the interaction style of pet dog owners that can be used to explain differences in the dog-human relationship, dogs' behavioral outcomes, and dogs stress coping strategies, all crucial elements both from a theoretical and applied point of view.
Procédure
It has been suggested that the way in which owners interact with their dogs can largely vary and influence the dog-owner bond, but very few objective studies, so far, have addressed how the owner interacts with the dog. The goal of the present study was to record dog owners' interaction styles by means of objective observation and coding. The experiment included eight standardized situations in which owners of pet dogs were asked to perform specific tasks including both positive (i.e. playing, teaching a new task, showing a preference towards an object in a food searching task, greeting after separation) and potentially distressing tasks (i.e. physical restriction during DNA sampling, putting a T-shirt onto the dog, giving basic obedience commands while the dog was distracted). The video recordings were coded off-line using a specifically designed coding scheme including scores for communication, social support, warmth, enthusiasm, and play style, as well as frequency of behaviors like petting, praising, commands, and attention sounds. Exploratory Factor Analysis of the 20 variables measured revealed 3 factors, labeled as Owner Warmth, Owner Social Support, and Owner Control, which can be viewed as analogues to parenting style dimensions. The experimental procedure introduced here represents the first standardized measure of interaction styles of dog owners. The methodology presented here is a useful tool to investigate individual variation in the interaction style of pet dog owners that can be used to explain differences in the dog-human relationship, dogs' behavioral outcomes, and dogs stress coping strategies, all crucial elements both from a theoretical and applied point of view.