A dog's bond with its owner significantly influences its long-term stress levels, reveals a recent study from Linköping University in Sweden. The findings also highlight how owner personality traits affect stress differently across dog breeds.
Researchers explored whether living with humans impacts dogs' stress. Long-term stress in both dogs and owners can be measured via cortisol—the primary stress hormone—accumulated in hair during growth.
Hair samples from 18 independent hunting breed dogs (like Swedish Elkhound, Norwegian Elkhound, and Dachshund) and 24 ancient breeds genetically closer to wolves (such as Shiba Inu, Basenji, and Siberian Husky) were analyzed for cortisol. Owners completed detailed questionnaires on their own and their dogs' personalities, plus relationship aspects like interaction quality, emotional attachment, and any ownership challenges.
“The results showed that owner personality influenced stress levels in hunting dogs, but interestingly not in the old dogs. In addition, the relationship between the dog and the owner influenced the dogs' stress levels. This was the case for both types, but the result was less pronounced for the old dogs,” said Lina Roth, senior lecturer in the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology at Linköping University.
In prior research by the same team, herding breeds—bred for human cooperation—mirrored owners' long-term stress. Adding relationship data confirmed its key role in these dogs' stress levels.
The team concludes that ancient breeds experience the least owner-driven stress influence. Hunting dogs link strongly to both owner personality and relationships, while herding dogs uniquely sync with owners' stress.
“We believe that the synchronization of stress is a result of breeding sheepdogs for cooperation with humans, while the owner relationship and the owner's personality are important parameters that influence the synchronization of stress levels,” says Lina Roth.
