Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Harley, Heidi

Area of Concentration

Biopsychology

Abstract

People love their dogs, and past studies have clearly shown that dogs are attached to their caregivers (Palmer, 2008; Schöberl et al., 2016; Topál et al.;1998; 2005). However previous studies have also indicated that people are often poor at recognizing their dog’s body language cues (Demiurbas et al., 2016; Tami & Gallagher, 2009), thereby potentially negatively affecting their relationships with their dogs. Here we investigated the relationship of dog/human dyads by analyzing each dog’s attachment to their caretaker, and each caretaker’s ability to read their dog’s body language. To measure each dog’s attachment to their caregiver, dog/human dyads engaged in the Strange Situation Test (SST) which allowed us to analyze each dog’s behavior, greetings, and reactions to separation from their caregiver across a variety of scenarios. To measure the ability of caregivers to read dogs’ body language, the caregivers watched videos of dogs and answered questions related to interpreting their body language. Dog participants were split into 4 groups reflecting levels of independence, attention to caregivers, and anxiety at separation. One dog was unclassifiable. Caregivers body language knowledge scores ranged greatly, from 8 to 25.In general, they were better able to recognize dogs’ body language cues in pro-social situations, versus situations of conflict. Although we did not find that caretaker ability to read body language was related to attachment style, both tests highlight interesting implications for the relationship between people and their dogs.

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