Unexpected Discovery: A Dog's Personality is Influenced by Its Owner

 Dogs that were taken daily by their owners were less aggressive. Dogs owned by women bark less at strangers. Heavier dogs tend to be more disobedient than lighter dogs.

Pugs, Bulldogs, Shih Tzus, and other short-muzzle breeds may behave worse than medium and long-muzzle breeds such as Golden Retrievers.

These are some of the findings of a study conducted by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil. The research sample included 665 pet dogs of various breeds as well as cross-breed dogs.

According to the authors, aggression is influenced by physical characteristics such as body weight and skull morphology, as well as social and environmental factors such as family type, dog's life history, sex, and age of the owner.

The findings confirm the researchers' hypothesis that animal behavior is not only influenced by genetics or influences but is the result of ongoing interactions with the environment.

"The results highlight something we've been studying for some time: the interaction between an animal and its habitat generates behavior. Environment and the relationship between owner and pet, as well as morphology, are all factors that affect a pet's personality," said the study's author. said co-author Briseida de Resende, a professor at the Institute of Psychology (IP-USP).

For the study, owners of a sample of 665 dogs completed three online questionnaires about themselves, their pets' characteristics, their environment, and any aggressive behavior such as barking or aggressiveness towards strangers.

The questionnaire was developed by Natália Albuquerque, a researcher at IP-USP, and Carine Savalli, a professor at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP).

Study co-author Flávio Ayrosa said: "The gender of the owner was found to be an accurate predictor of dog behavior towards strangers, with female dogs less likely to exhibit this behavior. More likely than other dog groups Aggressive 73%.

The gender of the pet also appears to affect aggression. "Bitches were 40 percent less likely than male dogs to engage in aggressive behavior toward their owners," Ayrosa said. Muzzle length was even more important: dogs with short muzzles were 79 percent more likely to attack their owners than dogs with long muzzles.

The study also found that the heavier the dog, the less aggressive it was toward its owner. 3% reduction in detection probability of aggression per kilogram of body weight.

Ayrosa emphasized that the findings about the owners were not causal. "We found the relationship but couldn't say which came first. For example, in the case of the 'dog walking' factor, people might walk less because the animal is aggressive, or the dog might become aggressive because the owner didn't walk their pets together" he said. "Traits such as weight, height, cranial morphology, sex, and age also affect the interaction between dogs and their environment. For example, they may spend more time indoors because of morphological factors".

In the past, canine aggression was often thought to be related only to breed, but that view has changed over the past 10 years, thanks to research linking the behavior to factors such as a dog's age and sex.