Method

1
Think Youre Stressed? Your Dog Probably is
Too The emotional connection between owners and
their dogs Megan Gentile, Bates College
Dr. Hazzard and Ellie

• Abstract
• Purpose ? to explore the relationship between
  owner reported anxiety levels and subsequent dog
  anxiety behavior while at the veterinary hospital
  ? to what degree are dogs able to assess their
  owners level of stress during the exam and is it
  a possibility that increased owner anxiety could
  cause an increase in dog anxiety? What other
  variables could influence dog and owner anxiety?
• Results ? significant correlation between owner
  state anxiety scores, trait anxiety scores, and
  dog behavior scores. Namely, as owner anxiety
  increased, anxious behavior demonstrated by the
  dog increased as well.
• This study supports previous research that owner
  personality and the expression of canine behavior
  may be related. Due to the dogs unique ability to
  read human behavior, it appears that they may be
  able to exemplify human emotions and reactions as
  well.

Results

• State and trait anxiety scores was significantly
  different with owners reporting much higher
  stress levels during their dogs veterinary exam,
  t(29) 3.05, p lt .05
• There was a strong positive correlation between
  owner state anxiety and dog anxiety which may
  indicate that the dog could be reacting or
  mimicking their owners behavior and signals,
  r(28) .78, p lt .05
• There was also a strong positive correlation
  between owner trait anxiety and dog anxiety which
  may indicate that the dog could be modeling its
  behavior after its owner in general , r(28)
  .56, p lt .05
• A oneway ANOVA showed that dog owner trait
  anxiety differed significantly by income F(3, 36)
  3.42, p lt .05. Individuals making between 75
  100K were the least stressed and those making
  200K were the most stressed

• Literature Review
• Dogs are very aware of human behavior, cues and
  emotions
• Hare (2005) Domesticated fox kits were compared
  with dog puppies of
• the same age on ability to read and react to
  human social cues and body
• language and the two groups performed at similar
  levels. When domestic
• foxes and control foxes were compared, the
  control foxes performed at a
• drastically lower level than did the domestic
  foxes
• Podberscek Serpell (1997) Study examined
  levels of aggression in dogs
• and subsequent owner personality traits. Findings
  indicated that owners
• who reported being tense, emotional or shy had
  dogs that were significantly
• more aggressive than the dogs belonging to the
  more relaxed, controlled,
• dominant owners.
• Dodman et al. (2004) Found that owners who were
  more confident, and
• independent minded, were significantly less
  likely to own dogs which
• developed behavior problems such as dominance
  related aggression, fear
• aggression, generalized anxiety and separation
  anxiety.

• Maximum STAI score 80
• Maximum dog anxiety score 48

Discussion

• Significantly higher state anxiety scores
  indicate that, while at the vet, owners could
  have been displaying behavioral cues illustrating
  their increased stress level. Since the
  relationship indicates that state anxiety
  deviates from the norm, it is possible that these
  behavioral cues could be more novel to the dog,
  and thus more salient.
• The strong positive correlation between
  increased owner state and trait anxiety and dog
  anxiety may indicate that the dog is analyzing
  its owners behavior. This is a possible
  explanation that could be due to the nature of
  dogs to look to the dominant member of the pack
  for behavioral guidance. It appears that the
  dogs of highly stressed owners are more stressed
  themselves perhaps because they think of their
  owners as role models for appropriate behavior.
• These results indicate that dogs do appear to be
  responsive to increased owner stress at the vet.
  However, there may be other variables and stimuli
  that just as stressful, if not more than owner
  stress. With proper education, owners may be able
  to decrease the stress of their dog by decreasing
  their personal stress as well as paying attention
  to anxiety provoking stimuli in the dogs
  environment.
• Future research should focus on obtaining a
  larger sample size in order to better assess
  what, exactly, are the predictors and behaviors
  that contribute to this relationship.

• Method
• Data were collected from a convenience sample of
  owners
• (N 30) and their dogs (N 30) who are clients
  of Falmouth Veterinary Clinic ? 11 men, 19 women
  and 15 male and female dogs, respectively.
• State Trait Anxiety Inventory by Charles D.
  Spielberger was given to the dog owners in order
  to assess their current and chronic stress
  levels.
• Demographics ? household income, which had six
  options from low (0-25K) to high (200K),
  gender, marital status (Single/Married/ In a
  relationship), age, work hours per week and the
  number of children present in household.
• Self-Evaluation Questionnaire (STAI) ? State
  how they feel right now at this moment and Trait
  how they generally feel. Questions ranked on
  Likert scales from 1 (Not at all) to 4 (Very Much
  So). Twenty statements varied in nature and
  targeted range of issues all pertaining to
  anxiety.
• Veterinarians and technicians assessed dog
  behavior on Likert scales from 1 (None) to 4 (To
  Excess). Behaviors to assess were common signs
  and symptoms of dog stress. There were twelve
  behaviors to assess, which included, Panting,
  Whining, Aggression, Shedding and
  Hyperactivity for example.