When dog owners spend extra time scratching their dogs' bellies, taking their dogs out for long walks and playing with them, or even if they are constantly frustrated with their dogs' mischievous chewing habits, they gradually shape their dogs' personalities. Dogs, like humans, have moods and personality traits that determine how they react in certain situations. And new research reveals that, just like humans, dogs' personalities are likely to change over time.
“When people go through major life changes, their personality traits can change. We found that this also happens to dogs – and to a surprisingly large extent,” said the study's lead author. “We expected the dogs' personality to be fairly stable because they don't have wild lifestyle changes, but in fact they change a lot. We found similarities with their owners, the optimal time for training and even a time in their lives when they can become more aggressive towards other animals.”
In addition, the researcher found that dogs' personalities can predict many important life outcomes. For example, the personality of dogs will affect how close they feel to their owners, biting behavior and even chronic illness.
The study is one of the first—and is the largest—of its kind to examine changes in dogs' personalities. The researcher surveyed owners of more than 1,600 dogs, including 50 different breeds. Dogs ranged from just a few weeks of age to 15 years, and were split between males and females. The extensive survey allowed owners to evaluate their dog's personalities and answered questions about the dog's behavioral history. The owners also answered a survey about their own personality.
“We found correlations in three key areas:age and personality, in human-to-dog personality similarities, and in the influence of a dog's personality on the quality of its relationship with its owner,” the researcher said. “Older dogs are much harder to train, we found the 'sweet spot' for obedience training of a dog is around age six when it has outgrown its exciting puppy stage but before too much is set in its way .”
One trait that rarely changes in age with dogs was fear.
Going into the adage, “dogs are like their owners,” the research showed that dogs and owners share specific personality traits. Extroverts rated their dogs as excitable and more active, while owners with a high number of negative emotions rated their dogs as more anxious, more active, and less receptive to training. Owners who rated themselves as pleasant rated their dogs as less fearful and less aggressive towards people and animals.
The owners who felt happiest about their relationship with their dogs reported active and exciting dogs, as well as dogs most responsive to training. Aggression and fear didn't matter much in a happy relationship.
"There are a lot of things we can do with dogs — like obedience classes and training — that we can't do with humans," he said. “Exposure to obedience classes was associated with more positive personality traits throughout the dog's lifespan, providing us with interesting opportunities to explore why personality changes occur in all types of animals.”
The findings prove how much power humans have in influencing a dog's personality. Many of the reasons a dog's personality changes are due to the "nature versus nurturing" theory associated with people's personalities.
