What Type of Dog Owner Are You?

A recent study conducted by researchers in Hungary has done a deep dive into the personalities behind dog owners (1). The team surveyed 800 dog owners and found three distinct profiles to classify them into. Laura Gillet, first author on the study and a psychologist with the department of Ethology at ELTE University in Budapest, walks us through the three different profiles of dog owners and other fun facts they uncovered along the way.

3 Types of Dog Owners

Friendly Colleagues

Compared to others, owners of “friendly colleague” dogs (31.1 percent) were more likely to belong to the youngest age group (18-30). Their dogs played both a functional role as working or guarding dogs as well as a companionship role. Indeed, they were also like their children, their friends, and the most important individuals in their lives. 

Logically, these owners chose breeds known for their working skills (e.g., Border Collie, German Shepherd, Belgian Shepherd) and valued the feeling of safety provided by the presence of their companions. The researchers also found that these owners were more likely to use certain positive reinforcement-based training methods, like using clicker training or crate training. Altogether, this might explain why they also perceived their dogs as very obedient.

Dog Parents

These owners (49.5 percent) were more likely to regard their dog as their child and even as the most important individual in their lives. The fact that they were also more likely to spend a lot of time together with their dog and to keep the dog exclusively indoors may, at least partly, explain why they developed such a strong and close bond. Purebred dogs the most represented in this category were Border Collies, Vizslas, Boxers, and Dachshunds.

Companions

Owners in this group represented the smallest share of the sample (19.4 percent). Since human-like roles (such as family member, friend, or child) were less important to them than to the other dog owners, the researchers assumed that these owners might be somewhat more emotionally distant from their dogs. They were more likely to be aged 40 or above, and spent less time in the presence of their dogs than others. Among those who owned purebred dogs, the Mudi, the English Cocker Spaniel, and the Labrador Retriever were the most represented.

The cool thing about these categories, Gillet says, is that they are not strict, and it is very likely that people transition between them throughout their lives, as dogs take on different roles depending on the life stage we are in. “For instance, a dog’s place in the family may change after the arrival of the first child,” Gillet says. She and her fellow researchers found it to be an enjoyable and thought-provoking exercise to take a moment and reflect on what our dogs mean to us, and how they enrich our lives and human families.

In addition to the three categories of dog owners, Gilet and her colleagues uncovered a few other fun facts about dog owners:

• The things people loved the most about their dogs included physical contact (97.6 percent) and the unconditional love provided by the dog (93.7 percent).
• 37 percent of dog owners regarded their dog as a child, and 48 percent as more important to them than any human.
• The biggest problems often encountered in educating dogs were socialization problems (20.4 percent) and lack of time (15.9 percent). 
• As for behavioral problems, jumping up was typical of 33.2 percent of dogs, chasing other animals was reported in 28.5 percent of dogs, and territorial behavior in 26.7 percent of dogs.
• Totally obedient dogs made 24.1 percent of the sample.

“One of the key messages behind our study is that, although dogs do play very important roles in our lives and share strong emotional bonds with us, similar to human friendships or to parent-child relationships, they are a different species with different needs,” Gillet says. She stresses that regardless of how you see your dog, providing them with a lifestyle that is tailored to their breed and unique personality is essential for having an emotionally stable, confident companion.

Be a part of the team’s future research

Next, the team plans to research how the perception of dogs varies across cultures. “We also want to learn more about why people choose to have dogs and the challenges of dog ownership, in order to get a better picture of the dog ownership experience and therefore reduce the ‘expectations versus reality’ gap,” Gillet says. 

Dog owners who want to contribute to their latest research can fill out this questionnaire to be included.  

Reference

1. Gillet, Laura et al. “The role of dogs is associated with owner management practices and characteristics, but not with perceived canine behaviour problems.” Scientific reports vol. 14,1 27548. 12 Nov. 2024, doi:10.1038/s41598-024-77400-y