Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

This study investigated the role of dog owners’ adult attachment style and personality on dog-owner interactions during a staged veterinary visit. A total number of 20 healthy, non-aggressive dogs and their owners participated in a standardised, non-invasive, veterinary consultation. Owners’ scores in two questionnaires, Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ, reflecting adult attachment style) and Big Five Inventory (BFI, reflecting personality), were investigated with regards to correlations with their own and their dogs’ behaviour using video recordings. The consultation was divided into four parts, mirroring events in a real veterinary consultation: pre-examination phase (owners were not allowed to interact with their dog), examination phase and post-examination phase which consisted of two parts: one where the owner was available to interact with their dog, and one where they were allowed to interact but given a task that redirected their attention away from the dog.
Owners who scored higher in subscales related to more avoidant adult attachment had dogs who spent less time in their proximity during the pre-examination phase. Moreover, these dogs were more frequently in contact with the door after the examination. These results may be interpreted as these dogs being more independent and less reliant on their owners. This is in line with previous findings in children and dogs of caregivers with a more avoidant attachment style. Owners who scored higher in conscientiousness (BFI) interacted less with their dogs during the examination, which supports previous research indicating that this personality trait affect owners’ caregiving behaviour.
This study suggests that owners’ adult attachment style and personality may influence the beha-viour of the owner and the dog during a staged veterinary visit. This study is limited by a small sample size and the fact that all dogs were healthy. Further research, including e.g. physiological measures, is required to investigate if this can be generalised to a larger population and to a real veterinary setting.