Dogs' Sociability, Owners' Neuroticism and Attachment Style to Pets as Predictors of Dog Aggression.

Elena Gobbo,Manja Zupan

doi:10.3390/ani10020315

Abstract

Simple SummaryIt is widely known that psychological characteristics, for example personality traits, can facilitate the occurrence of aggressive behavior. Using the combination of two research methods—questionnaires and behavioral testing—we investigated the associations between a dog’s personality and its aggression towards humans and animals. Due to the close relationship and co-habitation of dogs and humans, we also looked at how the owner’s personality and the dog–human emotional bond, known as attachment style, play a role in dog aggression. Our results indicated that dogs which were aggressive towards humans were less sociable, and had owners who were less emotionally stable, more distant, and less clingy and controlling, compared to non-aggressive dogs. These results emphasize the importance of owner attachment to a dog for dog behavior, and may serve as a foundation for future research on psychosocial factors influencing dog aggression.A dog’s aggressive behavior is influenced by external and internal factors, including its psychological profile. In this study, dogs’ and owners’ personalities and the owners’ attachment style to their dogs were identified and associated with owner-reported dog aggression towards humans and animals. Forty Slovenian owners participated with their dogs, of different breeds and aggression history, sorted into three groups (non-aggressive dogs, dogs aggressive towards humans, and dogs aggressive towards animals). The owners filled out three separate questionnaires that assessed dog aggression history towards different targets, owner’s personality and degree of insecure attachment styles to dogs; namely anxious and avoidant attachment. Dog personality was characterized using a standardized dog mentality assessment test, during which the dog was exposed to nine tasks, performed outside, and dogs were scored based on behaviors they exhibited. The results indicated that dogs which were aggressive towards humans were less sociable than non-aggressive dogs and this was associated with the higher neuroticism scores of their owners. We also found that dogs which were aggressive towards strangers had owners with lower scores for anxious attachment and that dogs which were aggressive towards owners had owners with higher scores for avoidant attachment. These results imply that the psychological profiles of both a dog and its owner influence dog aggression towards humans.

Highlights

The primary role of dogs was in guarding, herding and hunting, but their high socio-cognitive abilities and capability to form a close relationship with humans [1,2] have made them an integral part of human society
The dogs were placed in one of three groups based on aggression history reported by their owner
We showed that high avoidant attachment of owners was associated with high levels of owner-directed aggression, while a high anxious attachment was associated with low levels of stranger-directed aggression

Summary

Introduction

The primary role of dogs was in guarding, herding and hunting, but their high socio-cognitive abilities and capability to form a close relationship with humans [1,2] have made them an integral part of human society. Aggressive behavior of dogs is expressed as aggressive biting, by snapping or attacking, and aggressive threatening, by growling, barking and baring their teeth [11] It can be classified by motivational basis (territorial-, fear-, possessiveness-related, etc.) or targeted basis (stranger-, owner-, dog-directed etc.) [12], and can be influenced by a variety of factors. These include environment, maternal and sibling interactions, experience in the form of socialization and learning, as well as different biological [13] and psychological correlates, including an individual’s personality traits

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