Comparison Of Personality Inventories Of Owners Of Dogs With And Without Behavior Problems
Comparison of Personality Inventories of Owners of Dogs With and Without Behavior Problems
Nicholas H. Dodman, BVMS, DACVB*
Gary J. Patronek, VMD, PhD*
Victoria J. Dodman, MS†
Martin L. Zelin, PhD‡
Nicole Cottam, MS*
*Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, Departments of Clinical Sciences and Environmental and Population Health, North Grafton, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
†Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.A.
‡Tufts University, Department of Psychology, 490 Boston Avenue, Medford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
KEYWORDS: dog, canine, owner, personality, behavior problem, dominance aggression, fear aggression, separation anxiety
ABSTRACT
Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether owners of dogs with behavior problems would generally score less favorably on a personality test, and, more specifically, on the particular personality scales concerned with measuring confidence, independence, and sociability.
Sample Population: Canine patients that visited Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine for treatment of dominance-related aggression, fear aggression, separation anxiety, and various other medical afflictions (control group).
Procedure: Owners of 54 dogs (12 with dominance-related aggression, 15 with fear aggression, 15 with separation anxiety, and 12 controls) completed the California Personality Inventory (CPI). An independent t-test was used to identify any significant difference in mean CPI scores on 23 personality scales between owners of dogs with behavior problems (n = 42) and controls (n = 12). Each behavior problem group was compared independently with the control group as well using analysis of variance (ANOVA).
Results: Owners of dogs with a behavior problem scored less favorably on 20 of the 23 personality scales measured. Additionally, owners of dogs with behavior problems scored significantly lower than owners of dogs in the control group on some of the...
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