Validation of the Brazilian Portuguese Dog-Owner Relationship Scale (DORS)

Abstract

The bond between humans and dogs is quite noticeable in our daily lives and has variable characteristics depending on the cultural and socioeconomic context. Also, it varies according to the costs and benefits perceived by the owners in their everyday lives. The relationships established with such companion animals are being increasingly studied with the aim of characterizing the affective bonds created and how they differ between individuals and cultures. Scales that accurately assess the dog-owner relationship are important for the description of the bond and for possible attempts to maintain the well-being of both dog and owner. The Dog–Owner Relationship Scale (DORS) is a questionnaire that can help researchers achieve these goals and has never been validated for Brazilian culture and language. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to translate the DORS into Brazilian Portuguese and test its validity and reliability on a sample of Brazilian dog-owners. The same three-factor structure from the original English version of the scale was revealed by an Exploratory Factor Analysis: Pet–Owner Interaction (POI), Perceived Emotional Closeness (PEC) and Perceived Costs (PC). Due to low- or cross-loadings, some items had to be removed from our version and the validity of the construct was confirmed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Cronbach’s α values for each subscale were acceptable. In addition, we found through regression analysis that owners with higher education had a lower chance of being in the group with the highest Perceived Emotional Closeness (PEC) score when compared to owners with low education. And, when analyzing the Perceived Cost (PC) subscale, we noticed that the older the dog, the greater the chances of the owner perceiving the ownership as less costly. The Brazilian Portuguese DORS showed satisfactory evidence of validity, and its use is advised to assess dog-owner relationships.