Thielke Lauren E, Udell Monique A R
Animal & Rangeland Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
Animals (Basel). 2019 Nov 7;9(11):932. doi: 10.3390/ani9110932.
Although it is widely accepted that dogs and humans form attachment relationships, characterizing attachment styles in dogs has only recently received attention in the literature. Previous research has shown that pet dogs display patterns of behavior in an attachment test that can be classified into secure and insecure attachment styles, much like human children and their caretakers. However, we currently know relatively little about the role of attachment styles in relation to canine well-being. This question may be of particular interest for the 3.9 million dogs that enter animal shelters in the United States alone each year, as this transition marks the dissolution of prior bonds and the establishment of new attachment relationships. Herein, results are presented from analyses of volunteer-reported canine personality and behavior measures, as well as performance on two cognitive tasks as they relate to attachment styles developed within shelter and foster environments. Results from the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ) indicated that foster dogs were scored as having significantly higher levels of attachment and attention-seeking behaviors when compared with shelter dogs. In both environments, dogs categorized as securely attached to a shelter or foster volunteer had lower neuroticism scores. Secure attachment in foster homes was also associated with improved persistence and performance on a point following task. These results provide support for the idea that attachment styles formed with temporary caregivers is associated with other behavioral and personality measures, and therefore may have implications for behavior and welfare in dogs living in foster homes and animal shelters.
尽管人们普遍认为狗和人类会形成依恋关系，但在文献中，对狗的依恋风格进行特征描述只是最近才受到关注。先前的研究表明，宠物狗在依恋测试中的行为模式可分为安全型和不安全型依恋风格，这与人类儿童及其照顾者非常相似。然而，我们目前对依恋风格与犬类福祉的关系了解相对较少。对于仅在美国每年就有390万只进入动物收容所的狗来说，这个问题可能特别有趣，因为这种转变标志着先前关系的解除和新依恋关系的建立。本文展示了对志愿者报告的犬类性格和行为测量结果的分析，以及在两个认知任务中的表现，这些任务与在收容所和寄养环境中形成的依恋风格相关。犬类行为评估与研究问卷（C-BARQ）的结果表明，与收容所的狗相比，寄养犬在依恋和寻求关注行为方面的得分显著更高。在两种环境中，被归类为与收容所或寄养志愿者形成安全依恋的狗，其神经质得分较低。寄养家庭中的安全依恋也与在一项点跟随任务中的持久性和表现改善有关。这些结果支持了这样一种观点，即与临时照顾者形成的依恋风格与其他行为和性格测量相关，因此可能对生活在寄养家庭和动物收容所中的狗的行为和福利产生影响。
