Summary: New research shows that how owners perceive their dogs—as friends, family, or security guards—shapes the way they care for them. Surveying over 800 dog owners, researchers found that people who view dogs as family often form closer bonds and dedicate more time to them, while others keep dogs mainly for companionship or practical roles.
This generational shift in perception highlights a growing trend of treating dogs as family members. The study also found that the diverse roles attributed to dogs don’t negatively impact their welfare. These findings reveal complex, evolving dynamics in human-animal relationships shaped by modern societal trends.
Key Facts:
- Owners perceive their dogs as friends, family, or practical partners, influencing care.
- Younger owners are more likely to view their dogs as family, forming close bonds.
- Assigning human-like roles to dogs shows no adverse effects on canine welfare.
Source: Eötvös Loránd University
What role do dogs play in today’s world? For many, they are more than just pets.
New findings from the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University show that whether seen as friends, family members, children or guardians, these roles affect the way dogs are cared for, suggesting shifting dynamics in human-animal bonds shaped by societal trends and individual owner profiles.
In Western cultures, more and more people see their dogs as their best friends, family members or even their furry children. In fact, past studies have shown that up to two-thirds of dog owners consider their dog to be more important than any human in their lives.
One reason for these increasingly strong bonds between humans and dogs may be the demographic transition seen over the last few decades, characterised by smaller families and falling birth rates.
Indeed, in a time when people feel lonelier and more socially isolated, dogs may have become a perfect substitute for human contact.
However, not much scientific research has looked at this societal trend and how it affects the daily lives of dogs.
What is it about dogs that people love so much? Does regarding dogs as friends, children or family members influence the way owners care for them?
To answer these questions, researchers at the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) have studied questionnaire data collected from about 800 dog owners.
First, results revealed that almost all owners really liked the physical contact with the dog (97.6% of owners), the “unconditional love” the dog provides them (93.7%), and the sight and beauty of the dog (88.4%). Other benefits were less unanimous – for example, 24.3% of owners didn’t benefit from the social interactions generated by their dog, while 36.3% liked it a lot.
One key question was, of course, what role(s) the dog played in the owner’s life. The novelty of the present study was that, instead of just choosing one main role, owners could attribute multiple roles to their dogs, like friend, family member, child, colleague, domesticated animal, and security guard.
“Interestingly, even though we collected data from online groups dedicated to family dogs, the owners weren’t all the same” explained Laura Gillet, PhD student at the Department of Ethology and lead author of the study.
“We found three distinct profiles of owners whose dogs played diverse social and practical roles”.
Indeed, for some owners, the dog had dual functions: both practical as a colleague and a security guard, but also a strong emotional and social function as the most important individual in their lives.
Another group of owners, labelled as “dog parents”, emphasised the human-like roles of the dog, suggesting a very close bond but no practical functions. The last group kept dogs mainly for companionship while showing a greater emotional distance from their pets.
“As we previously assumed, several dog and human factors were associated with these three profiles. For instance, dogs with dual functions were perceived as very obedient and were trained with positive reinforcement and professional training methods like clicker training”, noted Prof. Eniko Kubinyi, head of the Department of Ethology and of the MTA-ELTE “Momentum” Companion Animals Research Group.
“Moreover, they often belonged to breeds known for their working abilities, such as Border Collie, Belgian Shepherd Dog and German Shepherd Dog.”
On the other hand, owners keeping dogs for companionship purposes preferred the Mudi, the English Cocker Spaniel and the Labrador Retriever breeds, spent less time with their dogs on a daily basis and were older than other owners.
Lastly, “dog parents” were more likely than others to house their dogs indoors only, and their favourite breeds were Border collies, Vizsla, Boxer, and Dachshund.
The researchers also collected information about the behavioural problems of the dogs as indicators of canine welfare, as these may result from inadequate management practices.
The most frequently reported issues were jumping up (33.2% of dogs), chasing animals (28.5%), territoriality (26.7%), overexcitement (20.9%), and fear of new things or situations (19.4%).
However, no association was found between these perceived behavioural problems and the roles attributed to the dogs.
In sum, dogs can play many roles in their owners’ lives and provide them with different benefits.
This new research method better captures the complexity of the dog-human bond.
Moreover, the roles that owners attributed to their dogs seem to have direct implications for dogs’ daily lives, although in this convenience sample of dog enthusiasts, endowing dogs with human-like roles had no negative effect on canine welfare.
Finally, the present findings also suggest a generational shift in the perception of the dog-owner relationship, with younger owners forming stronger emotional bonds with their dogs and more likely to refer to them as children than the previous generation.
More research is needed to better understand the consequences of this phenomenon in terms of animal and human well-being, but also what it says about our modern societies.
About this animal psychology research news
Author: Sara Bohm
Source: Eötvös Loránd University
Contact: Sara Bohm – Eötvös Loránd University
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“The role of dogs is associated with owner management practices and characteristics, but not with perceived canine behaviour problems” by Laura Gillet et al. Scientific Reports
Abstract
The role of dogs is associated with owner management practices and characteristics, but not with perceived canine behaviour problems
Owned dogs are often regarded as family members, best friends, or even as substitutes for children. These new roles and their effects on human well-being have received scientific attention, but little is known about how attributing such social functions to dogs might influence the caring behaviour of the owner, which in turn can impact canine welfare.
Our online survey of Hungarian dog owners (N = 790) aimed to describe what owners appreciate the most and the least in their dogs and to investigate the relationship between the social and non-social functions of the dog, the characteristics of the owner and the dog, the management practices of the owner, as well as the dog’s behaviour, including behaviour problems.
We found that most owners appreciated petting and physical contact with their dog (97.6%), followed by ‘unconditional love’ (93.7%), the dog’s beauty (88.4%), and walking with the dog (86.5%).
The most frequently mentioned problems were socialisation issues (20.4%) and lack of time (15.9%). Regarding canine behaviour, jumping up (33.2%), chasing animals (28.5%), territoriality (26.7%), and overexcitement (20.9%) were common problems. Almost a quarter of owners rated their dogs as totally obedient and 30.6% as totally safe off-leash.
We identified three profiles of dog owners based on the roles they attribute to their dogs. Dogs with both companionship and practical functions (31.1%) were perceived as more obedient and provided higher safety benefits to their owners than others.
Dogs regarded as ‘companion animals’ (19.4%) spent less time with their owners and had older owners than others.
Lastly, owners labelled as ‘dog parents’ (49.5%) were more likely to keep their dog indoors only than others. Importantly, the roles attributed to dogs were not associated with owner-reported canine behaviour problems.
We concluded that while the functions humans attribute to dogs are multiple and appear to have direct implications for the dogs’ daily lives, these variations in management practices do not necessarily seem to compromise their welfare.
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