É«ÇéÖ±²¥app

 Published: 12 Feb 2025 | Last Updated: 12 Feb 2025 19:00:27

New research from the É«ÇéÖ±²¥app (RVC) pandemic puppies research programme has highlighted the negative impact of problem behaviours in young adult dogs on the strength of the owner-dog relationship. These findings can be used to support interventions targeted at supporting owners of dogs with problem behaviours. Reducing or preventing unwanted behaviours in dogs could improve owner-dog relationships, enhance dog welfare and even prevent relinquishment or euthanasia. 

The boom in acquiring puppies during the COVID-19 pandemic (the so-called Pandemic Puppy phenomenon) led to welfare concerns for this cohort of dogs. These concerns include the impulsive purchase of puppies to homes that may not be appropriate in the long-term, increased production of puppies from poor welfare sources and restricted early-life experiences and socialisation for puppies that would lead to problem behaviours. Combined, these changes were feared to weaken owner-dog relationships and increase future relinquishment in this uniquely vulnerable Pandemic Puppy generation.

As part of the RVC’s response to these welfare concerns, the ‘Pandemic Puppies’ longitudinal study explored the strength and threats to the owner-dog relationship – a key component to ensuring sustained dog ownership and care. The emotional relationship between an owner and their dog is widely recognised to affect the wellbeing of both the dog and the human. This RVC research team set out to identify what factors were associated with weakened owner-dog relationships in UK dogs acquired during the key Pandemic phase of 2020. This information would deepen the understanding of owner-dog dynamics and in turn, can help develop processes and tools to support owners experiencing poor relationships with their dogs and to mitigate against relinquishment and even euthanasia.

The outcomes are also helpful for advising future puppy buyers on key risks to avoid that might endanger them building a strong and long-lasting relationship with their dog.

The study – published in PLOS One – included data from 794 dog owners within Pandemic Puppies who shared information when their dog reached 21 months of age. Different facets of the owner-dog relationship were investigated by analysing the scores from two Monash Dog-Owner Relationship Scale (MDORS) subscales: Perceived Emotional Closeness, or how much companionship, attachment and love owners felt towards their dogs; and Perceived Costs, or how burdened owners felt by dog ownership (including time, emotion, effort as well as financial costs). Risk factors such as health, behaviour and acquisition-related variables were also analysed for their link to these two relationship scores assessing emotional closeness and the burden of dog ownership.

Some of the key findings included:

• Owners who reported their dog had problem behaviours considered dog ownership to carry a higher burden than owners who were satisfied with their dog’s behaviour.
• Owners who reported their dog showed multiple types of aggression felt less emotionally close to their dog than owners whose dogs did not show aggression.
• Owners who used mainly reward-based training methods with their dog felt more emotionally close to their dogs than owners who used punishment-based training methods (e.g., things their dog found unpleasant such as shouting, pushing and smacking).
• Owners who bought puppies specifically because of the pandemic now felt that these puppies were a higher burden that owners who had already planned for a puppy even before the pandemic.

Dr Bree Merritt, PhD student at the RVC, and lead author of the study said:

“Relationships with our dogs can be immensely rewarding, but it’s not all fun and games. Looking after them can be hard work, expensive or even change day-to-day activities. When the owner-dog relationship goes wrong, the wellbeing of the dog and owner can be affected.

“Problem behaviours have the biggest influence on the burden of dog ownership felt by our Pandemic Puppy owners. This is after pandemic-related factors such as lack of training and socialisation opportunities were taken into account, so problem behaviours are likely to be a much wider concern beyond just those dogs who were brought home during the pandemic.

“These results show how important it is to find evidence-based help for problem behaviour to improve the emotional health of dogs, their owners and sustain their relationship. Owners who are struggling with problem behaviour in their dog should contact their vet who can look for any underlying physical problems, and refer them to an accredited behaviourist.”

Dr Rowena Packer, Senior Lecturer in Companion Animal Behaviour and Welfare Scientist at the RVC, and senior author of the study said:

“Impulsive acquisition of dogs based on short-term circumstances is an enduring challenge for the canine welfare sector. Here, we demonstrate that puppy purchases that were a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as having increased time for a dog during this atypical period, resulted in owners who felt a greater burden of dog ownership by the time their puppy was a young adult, compared to owners whose purchases were planned based on longer-term circumstances.

“UK campaigns have long encouraged owners to consider their ability to care for a dog for the duration of its lifetime at acquisition. However, if the efficacy of these messages remains limited, greater interventions may be needed to emphasise the responsibilities of dog ownership, ideally prior to purchase. As seen in some European countries, this could include compulsory courses as a deterrent to impulsive and uninformed acquisitions, which could also act as a vehicle to increase awareness of the legal obligations of dog ownership.”

Dr Dan O’Neill, Associate Professor in Companion Animal Epidemiology at the RVC, and co-author of the study said:

“Acquiring a new dog is often one of the most exciting moments of our lives. This wonderful new research from RVC now gives us the keys to ensuring this happiness for us and our dog can only get stronger with time. Spend months or years planning how and where to get your new and well-socialised dog and follow this with patient and positive training: it may not be rocket science but it is very good dog welfare science.”

Notes to Editors

Reference

Bree L. Merritt, Dan G. O’ Neill, Claire L. Brand, Zoe Belshaw, Fiona C. Dale, Camilla L. Pegram and Rowena M. A. Packer et al. Lasting Lockdown Love? Problem behaviour and pandemic and non-pandemic related risk factors influencing the owner-dog relationship in a UK cohort of dogs reaching early adulthood.

Link to article:

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About the RVC

• The É«ÇéÖ±²¥app (RVC) is the UK's largest and longest established independent veterinary school and is a Member Institution of the University of London.
• It is one of the few veterinary schools in the world that hold accreditations from the RCVS in the UK (with associated recognition from the AVBC for Australasia, the VCI for Ireland and the SAVC for South Africa), the EAEVE in the EU, and the AVMA in the USA and Canada.
• The RVC is ranked as the top veterinary school in the world in the QS World University Rankings by subject, 2024.
• The RVC offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in veterinary medicine, veterinary nursing and biological sciences.
• The RVC is a research-led institution, with 88% of its research rated as internationally excellent or world class in the Research Excellence Framework 2021.
• The RVC provides animal owners and the veterinary profession with access to expert veterinary care and advice through its teaching hospitals and first opinion practices in London and Hertfordshire.