A study out of Brock University looks at how dog owners cope with behavioral issues with their pets, like barking and aggression, and how those situations affect the relationship.
The research showed that human connections with dogs have just as many ups and downs as relationships between people.
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Brock University Ph.D. candidate Renata Roma researched how personality affects relationships between dogs and humans. Hundreds of people took part in the study, and Roma focused on young people between 18-25 years old.
Roma says, “That attachment is something really crucial for the relationship between people and dogs, the way people feel towards their dogs.”
The study doesn’t just talk about the benefits of having a dog, it talks about how negative behavior like biting or aggression can impact the relationship between a human and a dog.
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Roma says, “We also found that the more the dog has behavioral issues, the more stress will be present in the relationship.”
Roma’s professor at Brock, who co-authored the paper, says it shows an important contribution to the emerging field of human-animal interactions.