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Verbeek P, Majure CA, Quattrochi L, Turner SJ. The Welfare of Dogs as an Aspect of the Human-Dog Bond: A Scoping Review. Animals (Basel) 2024; 14:1985. [PMID: 38998097 PMCID: PMC11240373 DOI: 10.3390/ani14131985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2024] [Revised: 06/26/2024] [Accepted: 07/03/2024] [Indexed: 07/14/2024] Open
Abstract
The close bond that can exist between humans and their dogs is an important aspect of the evolutionary, economic, and social connections between the two species. There is a need for a better understanding of the place of the dog within the human-dog bond and on ways the human-dog bond affects dog welfare. We conducted a scoping review to investigate to what extent and in what ways dog welfare is addressed in the research literature on the human-dog bond. We identified 706 publications on the human-dog bond from across the globe that were published from 2012 to 2023. We found that 246 of these 706 publications had a focus on dog welfare. Our review showed that the interplay of characteristics and backgrounds of owners/handlers and their dogs was linked to dog welfare in multiple, both positive and negative, ways. Our review is limited by the fact that most of the research that we reviewed involved pet dogs and in majority came from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic (WEIRD) societies. There is a need for a better understanding of how the human-dog bond affects the welfare of working, assistance, and service dogs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Verbeek
- Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 402 10th Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294-1241, USA
| | - Chase Alan Majure
- Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 402 10th Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294-1241, USA
| | - Laura Quattrochi
- Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 402 10th Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294-1241, USA
| | - Stephen James Turner
- Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 402 10th Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35294-1241, USA
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Relationships among morphological, environmental, social factors and aggressive profiles in Brazilian pet dogs. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2022.105766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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Mikkola S, Salonen M, Puurunen J, Hakanen E, Sulkama S, Araujo C, Lohi H. Aggressive behaviour is affected by demographic, environmental and behavioural factors in purebred dogs. Sci Rep 2021; 11:9433. [PMID: 33941802 PMCID: PMC8093277 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-88793-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2020] [Accepted: 03/31/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Aggressive behaviour is an unwanted and serious problem in pet dogs, negatively influencing canine welfare, management and public acceptance. We aimed to identify demographic and environmental factors associated with aggressive behaviour toward people in Finnish purebred pet dogs. We collected behavioural data from 13,715 dogs with an owner-completed online questionnaire. Here we used a dataset of 9270 dogs which included 1791 dogs with frequent aggressive behaviour toward people and 7479 dogs without aggressive behaviour toward people. We studied the effect of several explanatory variables on aggressive behaviour with multiple logistic regression. Several factors increased the probability of aggressive behaviour toward people: older age, being male, fearfulness, small body size, lack of conspecific company, and being the owner's first dog. The probability of aggressive behaviour also differed between breeds. These results replicate previous studies and suggest that improvements in the owner education and breeding practices could alleviate aggressive behaviour toward people while genetic studies could reveal associated hereditary factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Salla Mikkola
- Department of Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Milla Salonen
- Department of Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jenni Puurunen
- Department of Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Emma Hakanen
- Department of Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Sini Sulkama
- Department of Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - César Araujo
- Department of Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Hannes Lohi
- Department of Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
- Department of Veterinary Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
- Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, Finland.
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Emphasis on veterinary behavioral medicine—Overlaps with health and welfare. J Vet Behav 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jveb.2020.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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