An obedient dog has a happy owner, while a dog causing behavioral behavior tends to have a stressful owner

by Jean Flanagan

Some dogs have surprisingly listened to what the owner says, and while there are obedient dogs able to act as the owner can say, there are also some dogs that cause problems behavior when they are always restless and depart from the owner. According to a paper published in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior , a veterinary academic journal, there is a correlation between "the degree to which a dog causes problem behavior while there is no owner" and "whether the owner is happy or not" The result was clarified.

Differences in stress and happiness between owners who perceive their dogs as well behaved or poorly behaved when they are left alone - ScienceDirect
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1558787818300728

Well-Behaved Dogs May Have Happier Owners | Psychology Today
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fellow-creatures/201809/well-behaved-dogs-may-have-happier-owners

A research team at Nuevo Leon State Autonomous University conducted a survey of 36 pairs of dogs and owners with separation anxiety in Mexico and 40 pairs of dogs and owners who are smart and obedient in terms of their owner It was. Dogs with separation anxiety are extremely uneasy about leaving their owners, and when walking with their owners they always walk around the owner. And when the owner is gone and left behind by the house, it will cause physical problems, such as losing physical condition, continuing to cry sometimes unnecessarily, or add another place other than the toilet.

In the survey, we asked the owner a questionnaire about what kind of behavior the dogs are taking while the owner is leaving. Separation anxiety dogs continued barking and breaking things while the owner was away, as well as showing symptoms such as trembling and restlessness.

Interestingly, obedient dogs were rated "more easily trained" than dogs with separation anxiety. In addition, it turned out that there is a long tendency for dogs who are more obedient than dogs with separation anxiety to stay together with their owners and houses. On the other hand, although a dog of separation anxiety shows a strong attachment to the owner, it is found that the trust relationship with the owner is lower than the obedient dog.

by chifei

It is widely believed that "keeping pets such as dogs will reduce stress", but according to the research team it seems not necessarily so. In this study, it is also clear that the owner of a dog with isolation anxiety feeling high stress, suggesting that not all the owners may be happy with keeping pets .

The research team says, "The owner who feels high stress may not be able to establish a relaxed trusting relationship with his dog and may have exacerbated the separation anxiety of the dog, so that the owner and the dog I do not want to spend time and the separation anxiety of the dog is getting worse more and more ". In other words, there is a pattern in which a negative spiral occurs, "The owner feels stress, causing a dog to take a problem behavior, which further becomes an owner's stress."

However, this research was conducted only in accordance with the owner's self-declaration, and individual cases are not examined as to what problems the dog has as separation anxiety. Dogs with problems similar to isolation anxiety sometimes cause behavioral behaviors due to simply being boredom, frustration, discipline, and so on.

This research is only a general one, and it does not indicate a clear causal relationship. Still, the research team believes that "keeping dogs well can lead to reduced stress of their owners." "If we can treat our dogs with their dogs in an effort to improve the problem behavior of dogs and build a relationship of trust with dogs, there is a possibility that we can improve the separation anxiety of dogs," the study The team says.

by Bob Bawell