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. 2013 Oct 30;8(10):e78455.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0078455. eCollection 2013.

"Like owner, like dog": correlation between the owner's attachment profile and the owner-dog bond

Marcello Siniscalchi  1 , Carlo Stipo, Angelo Quaranta
Affiliations

"Like owner, like dog": correlation between the owner's attachment profile and the owner-dog bond

Marcello Siniscalchi et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

During recent years, several studies have revealed that human-dog relationships are based on a well-established and complex bond. There is now evidence suggesting that the dog-human affectional bond can be characterized as an "attachment". The present study investigated possible association between the owners' attachment profile assessed throughout a new semi-projective test (the 9 Attachment Profile) and the owner-dog attachment bond evaluated using a modified version of those used in studying human infants: Ainsworth's "strange situation". The findings represented the first evidence for the presence of a correlation between the owners' attachment profile and the owner-dog attachment bond throughout procedure and behavioural analyses involving controlled observations.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Experimental setup.
Schematic representation of the testing apparatus.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Behavioural categories that indicate secure base effect.
a) Exploration, b) Individual play, c) Social play. Proportion of behavioural occurrences in the two groups of dogs across the 8 experimental episodes (group means with SEM are shown). Asterisks indicate significant differences between dogs' groups (see text for details) : *P<0.05; **P<0.01.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Behavioural categories that indicate proximity seeking.
a) Approach, b) Oriented to person. Proportion of behavioural occurrences in the two groups of dogs across the 8 experimental episodes (group means with SEM are shown). Asterisks indicate significant differences between dogs' groups (see text for details) : *P<0.05; **P<0.01.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Behavioural categories that indicates searching.
a) Scratch door, b) Oriented to door. Proportion of behavioural occurrences in the two groups of dogs across the 8 experimental episodes (group means with SEM are shown). Asterisks indicate significant differences between dogs' groups (see text for details) : *P<0.05; **P<0.01.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Behavioural categories that indicate comfort seeking.
a) Physical contact with person, b) Physical contact with chair. Proportion of behavioural occurrences in the two groups of dogs across the 8 experimental episodes (group means with SEM are shown). Asterisks indicate significant differences between dogs' groups (see text for details) : *P<0.05; **P<0.01.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Bowlby J (1982) Attachment and loss. Attachment (2nd Ed.) (New York: Basic Books, new printing in 1999, with a foreword by Allan N. Schore; originally published in 1969), Vol 1.
    1. Ainsworth MDS, Bell SM (1970) Attachment, exploration, and separation: illustrated by the behaviour of one-year-olds in a strange situation. Child Devel 41: 49–67. - PubMed
    1. Ainsworth MDS (1989) Attachments beyond infancy. Am Psychol 44: 709–716. - PubMed

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