Influences on public perception of the temperament of a breed of dog in Ireland: breed, handler appearance, experience and knowledge

Abstract

Introduction: People’s attitudes to and perception of dogs vary both between and within societies and may be influenced by many factors (Serpell & Paul, 1994) including those unrelated such as environment (Wells & Hepper 1992). These include culture, knowledge, perception of breed and the appearance of the dog (Deshen & Deshen, 1989; Nakajima et al., 2002). The influence of a dog on the perception of its handler has been investigated (Mae et al., 2004) but it has not been established whether the characteristics of the handler can influence the perception of the dog. This is pertinent to the use of working dogs.

Methodology: The research was by a questionnaire survey of students at Cork Institute of Technology. 463 respondents were asked to rate photographs of three breeds of dog alone and to then rate the same dogs with three of fifteen possible categories of handler, prior to completing the questionnaire.

Results: There was a difference in mean rating for temperament for a dog alone and for the same dog with a handler, and there were between breed differences. Different dog breeds were rated significantly differently (Wilkes Lambda =0.187, F(13,374)=125.053 P=.000). There was a significant effect of handler on the perception of the Labrador (LR) (F(14,462)=8.589 P=.000), of the German shepherd (GSD) (14,462)=6.513 P=.000) and of the Airedale terrier (AT) (F(14,461)=7.587 P=.000) The handler categories, which appeared to influence perception most, were Police; rough male; wheel chair user’s; blind persons. Pearson’s correlations revealed consistency in ratings throughout the questionnaire, with or without a visual representation for the LR and for the GSD but not for the AT.

Conclusions: People’s perception of the temperament of a breed of dog may be influenced by the breed, by the appearance of the handler and by their experience and knowledge of dogs. The results appear consistent, that is, respondents perceived that dogs were either more or less friendly, when presented with different categories of handler.

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ORCID for Felicity L. Bishop: orcid.org/0000-0002-8737-6662

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