How In Tune Are We With the Needs of Our Canine Companions?

A new and comprehensive report from the RSPCA titled "How in tune are we with the needs of our canine companions?" reveals some very interesting and useful data about how we relate to dogs. It can be downloaded here. More than 3000 dog's owners were surveyed about their knowledge of the behavioral and social needs of their dogs and how they felt about dog training and problematic behavior. I learned a lot from this comprehensive report and highly recommend it to all people who share their homes and hearts with dogs and all those who work with them in various capacities. Learning more about dog-human interactions and what dogs want and need will be a win-win for all. Here are a few snippets that I hope will motivate readers to look at all of the results of this survey. While some of the percentages for some of the data are low, they refer to a large number of dogs given the survey's large sample size.

-- 87% of the respondents agreed that dogs need and value the company of humans, but 22% of the dogs spent more than four or more hours alone each day

-- Nearly 50% of the dogs got 30-60 minutes of exercise daily, but 6% of the people didn't walk their dog every day. 44% of the dogs were walked twice a day.

-- 67 % of dog owners reported that their dog always had access to toys and only two % said "never".

-- Around 20% of the dogs always were leashed when with their human.

-- Most owners seek advice on how to handle behavior problems online.

-- Reward-based training is common (70% of respondents) but many people still use aversive training methods.

-- 44% of dogs came from a breeder and 3% came from a pet shop.

The emotional lives of dogs

Given my long-time research on the cognitive and emotional lives of dogs, I was particularly interested how humans viewed the emotional capacities of their dogs. Here's their assessments of the emotions dogs could experience: Happiness – 87%, Fear – 82%; Love towards people – 79%; Boredom – 74%; Jealousy – 70%; Sadness – 63%; Love towards dogs – 63%; Worry – 62%; Anger – 53%; Guilt – 42%; None of the emotions listed – 2%. I've written essays on just about all of these emotions that are easily accessible online for Psychology Today and elsewhere, and research bears out that these assessments are consistent with what we know about the emotional lives of dogs. The one exception is guilt, in that we still do not know if dogs experience guilt, despite what some nay-sayers claim. For a summary about guilt, please see "Dogs and Guilt: We Simply Don't Know" and links therein, for more information on jealousy see "Dogs Know When They've Been Dissed, and Don't Like It a Bit," for more on play see "The Power of Play: Dogs Just Want to Have Fun," and for more on worry see "Do Animals Worry and Lose Sleep When They're Troubled?"

We know a lot about human-dog relationships, but many people still don't use our knowledge to give dogs what they want and need

I highly recommend this comprehensive survey. The data that are reported are invaluable and it will be interesting to learn if they can be generalized to other countries. The reference section also is well-worth perusing.

Source: Pixabay free download

The general summary of this report is worth quoting for those who can't take the time to read the entire piece. I also will comment below on some of what they wrote. The italics are mine.

The conclusion reads: "In general, our findings suggest that many of the dog owners surveyed have a good understanding of what dogs need, behaviourally and socially, to be happy and healthy. A high proportion agree or agreed strongly with statements regarding company, exercise, play and training. So, at face value based on our findings, the respondents appear to be largely in tune with what their dogs need. However, the knowledge held by the owners did not always appear to translate into behaviour, which means that while many owners had a level of understanding which suggests their dogs should be happy and healthy, their behaviour towards their dogs may fail to ensure this. When it comes to beliefs about what dogs feel and how they learn, a high number of owners appear to think of their dogs as people rather than a different species."

There's a lot of good news in this report and the summary, but many humans still do not wind up giving their dogs what they want and need despite what they say they do and what they know. I wrote about this topic in an essay called "Dogs Want and Need Much More Than They Usually Get From Us," and a message we don't want to hear is that numerous companion dogs are more highly stressed than we realize in a human-dominated world.

Choosing to share your home and heart with a dog (or other companion animal) is a huge responsibility that could be highly stressful for people who just don't have the time, energy, money, or knowledge to give the nonhuman the best life possible. The dogs can suffer because of this. I've known, as I imagine many others also have, people with good intentions who choose to live with a dog and then simply cannot do what's needed for their nonhuman friend. These people then get stressed out because they can't give their dog what she or he needs. So for them, the choice is not a good one, despite their good intentions.

Learning more about dog-human interactions and what dogs want and need, and using this information on all dogs' behalves, will be a win-win for all. That's why the RSPCA report is so valuable. The bottom line is that dog-human relationships have to be good for all of the individuals who are involved.

Guilt Essential Reads

The Problem With Guilt

I'll Never Tell: Rethinking the Psychology of Secrecy

We are most fortunate to have dogs in our lives, and we must work for the day when all dogs are most fortunate to have us in their lives. In the long run, we’ll all be better for it.