• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Economic Development Council
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • Fourth Amendment
    • First Amendment
    • Privacy
    • Second Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Third Amendment
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
    • 14th Amendment
    • Civil Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Flagler Youth Orchestra
    • Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
    • Palm Coast Arts Foundation
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2022
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

How Your Dog’s Behaviors Can Impact Your Quality of Life

May 9, 2023 | FlaglerLive | Leave a Comment

There are associations between interactions with dogs, personality characteristics, and owners’ sense of well-being.
There are associations between interactions with dogs, personality characteristics, and owners’ sense of well-being. (ms_bulsara/Flickr)

By Renata Roma

  • grand living realty

I became interested in research about dogs because of my close connection with my first pet Pantro, a friendly and energetic cocker spaniel. Pantro was the perfect fit for me, for being great company for long walks while also being calm and independent when left alone. However, his behavioural issues were challenging on several occasions.




I have spent over a decade researching the unique connection that dog owners have with our beloved pets. As a researcher in the human-animal interactions field, I studied how other pet owners dealt with both positive and challenging dog behaviours.

Benefits and challenges

Dog ownership has several benefits for people’s psychological and physical health. However, relationships with dogs are complex and can involve some conflicts. Undesired dog behaviours such as aggression and barking are the leading reason people give up their dogs.

Behavioural issues in dogs can cause distress by requiring extra time for training, issues when exercising the pet and limitations related to where to go with the dog and increased stress.

More studies are needed to understand how to prevent the deterioration of the relationship shared with the dog when owners face undesired dog behaviours.

As a part of my PhD studies and alongside the researchers Christine Tardif-Williams, Shannon Moore and Patricia Pendry, I conducted three studies between 2018 to 2023. My goal was to further understand not only what factors improve the quality of the relationship between people and dogs, but also what happens when relationships with dogs become stressful.

Personality, attachment and well-being

a dog sits on the road with greenery in the background
The author’s dog Pantro, a cocker spaniel.
(Eduardo Simão), Author provided

In my first study, 401 participants aged between 17 and 25 years old completed a series of questionnaires about their personality, their dog’s personality and their attachment towards the dog. The participants also responded to questions related to their well-being, such as their sense of connectedness and levels of stress. This was to assess the extent to which personality characteristics and attachment are linked to young adults’ well-being.




I found that aspects related to young people’s personality, as well as factors related to their attachment towards the dog are key to understand young people’s well-being in the context of dog ownership. For instance, avoidant and anxious canine behaviour were associated with poorer well-being among young people, which was not a surprise.

Such a finding supports past studies by highlighting that the quality of the emotional connections between dog owners and their dogs can have an impact on people’s well-being. Therefore, living with a dog will not necessarily positively impact people’s well-being, unless there is a positive emotional connection in the relationship shared with the dog.

The study’s findings also emphasize links between young people’s personality and their well-being, but not between the dog’s personality and participants’ well-being. Characteristics related to young people’s personality seem to be more relevant than aspects related to their dog’s personality to explain well-being among young dog owners.

Quality of life

The second study involved 131 participants and focused on dog owners’ emotions when managing stressful and undesired dog behaviours. As expected, undesired behaviours displayed by dogs were associated with poorer sense of quality of life in the context of dog ownership. More specifically, stress and responsibility of dog ownership and poorer emotional quality of life were linked to situations such as dog aggression and excessive barking.

Coping with pet behaviour

The third study involved interviews with seven dog owners between 17 and 26 years of age. Participants were asked about their perceptions, feelings and coping styles when the dog misbehaves to explore how young dog owners cope with challenging dog behaviours.

The interviews revealed that participants’ coping styles and emotions vary, but overall, they were able to manage challenging and stressful situations with their dogs. The findings suggest a preference for more proactive coping styles, mostly focused on positive reinforcement and work with trainers, when needed.




At the same time, participants discussed the importance of physical and emotional connections, as well as synchrony in the relationship shared with their dogs. Synchrony refers to mutual adjustments in the dog’s and owner’s behaviours that result in feelings of being “tuned” in to each other during daily interactions.

For example, participants described how their dogs adjust their behaviours to different family members by being more playful with some while being more respectful with family members that are perceived by the dog as more authoritative. A dog’s ability to do so seems crucial to create a positive and harmonic interaction with different people living with the dog.

What this means

My research findings illuminate some of the factors associated with both positive and challenging relationships between young people and their dogs which might, in turn, support young people’s well-being. The results also clarify the link between behavioural issues in dogs, young people’s quality of life in the context of dog ownership, and coping styles used by dog owners when their dogs misbehave.

This holistic view on dog ownership indicates that, as happens in relationships with other people, pet owners’ connections with their dogs can also have ups and downs depending on their psychological state, their dogs’ behaviours and the environment.

Renata Roma is Researcher, Child & Youth Studies, Brock University.


The Conversation arose out of deep-seated concerns for the fading quality of our public discourse and recognition of the vital role that academic experts could play in the public arena. Information has always been essential to democracy. It’s a societal good, like clean water. But many now find it difficult to put their trust in the media and experts who have spent years researching a topic. Instead, they listen to those who have the loudest voices. Those uninformed views are amplified by social media networks that reward those who spark outrage instead of insight or thoughtful discussion. The Conversation seeks to be part of the solution to this problem, to raise up the voices of true experts and to make their knowledge available to everyone. The Conversation publishes nightly at 9 p.m. on FlaglerLive.

Previous Conversations:

  • Understanding the Heat Dome: Why America Is Baking
  • Endorsements Aren’t As Influential as You Think
  • Wiccan Celebrations and the Permanence of Change
  • Privacy Isn’t In the Constitution. But It’s Everywhere in Constitutional Law.
  • Anti-Trans Legislation and Lawsuits Are Pushing back Against Chosen Pronouns
  • How Mike Pence’s Unremarkable Actions on Jan. 6 Saved the Nation
  • Blaspheming Human Rights: The Hypocrisy at the Core of Authoritarian Muslim Nations
  • There Is No One ‘Religious View’ on Abortion
  • Inflation Is Spiking. Can the Fed Raise Interest Rates Without Spiking Unemployment, Too?
  • Blaming ‘Evil’ Is Not Enough
  • Did the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban Diminish Mass Shootings? Yes.
  • Crowded Primaries Are Good for Extremists, Bad for Voters
  • To Get Safe Schools, Mental Health Resources Are Critical
  • Antarctica’s Riskiest Glacier Is Losing Its Grip
  • The Legal Age to Buy Assault Weapons Doesn’t Make Sense

See the Full Conversation Archives
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
You and your neighbors collectively read our articles about 25,000 times each day (that's not a typo) with up to 65,000 daily reads during emergencies like hurricanes. Flagler County residents rely on FlaglerLive for essential, bold and analytical journalism that cannot be found anywhere else. But we depend on your support. Please join our December fund drive! If you donate the cost of a scoop of ice cream, you will be helping us continue to provide comprehensive local news and honest, serious journalism for our community. If you can donate more or become a monthly donor, even better. Donations are tax deductible since FlaglerLive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donate by clicking anywhere in this box. Think of it as buying a scoop, in every sense of the term!  
All donors' identities are kept confidential and anonymous.
   

Reader Interactions

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Advertisers

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Recent Comments

  • Pierre Tristam on Drag Queen Story Hour Is Not What You Think
  • Brian on Drunk Driver Allegedly Goes Nuts on Deputy After Crashing Into Hydrant
  • Pierre Tristam on Drag Queen Story Hour Is Not What You Think
  • JustBeNice on Take Pride
  • Wow on Flagler Beach Man Charged with Home Invasion Armed Robbery Against Ex
  • Jonathan on Flagler Beach Man Charged with Home Invasion Armed Robbery Against Ex
  • James on After Deadlock on Rape Charges, New Trial for Monserrate Teron Set for July 24
  • Citizen Woke on Its Streets Degrading, Palm Coast Looks for Electric Vehicles to Pay Their Fair Share of Road Taxes
  • Be serious on At FPC, Misplaced ‘Man Cave’ Culture and Improprieties Cause Demise of Girls’ Basketball Coach
  • The dude on To Survive Poverty, Prayer Helped. But So Did Government.
  • David Schaefer on Drunk Driver Allegedly Goes Nuts on Deputy After Crashing Into Hydrant
  • Ray on Take Pride
  • Jeff Miller on Take Pride
  • Samuel Miller on Take Pride
  • The dude on Take Pride
  • Charlie Blizard on Gas Prices Sink as Oil Prices Near Late 2021 Levels

Log in