Article about Dog-owner relationship published!
In the year 2023, the validation of the DORS (Dog-owner Relationship Scale) questionnaire for the Portuguese language and Brazilian culture was published (Cabral, Resende, Mariti, Howell, & Savalli, 2023).
The doctoral student from the PSE in the area of Human Ethology and Animal Behavior, Francisco Cabral, and his advisor, Carine Savalli and his coadvisor, Briseida Resende, were part of the publication. Validations are important to adapt questionnaires to different socio-cultural and language contexts in which they will be applied, ensuring the reliability of the instrument. Therefore, the research was fundamental to enable advancements in understanding the relationship between Brazilian dog owners and their pets.
The authors identified that the Brazilian DORS questionnaire is valid for investigating relevant aspects of the relationship between dog owners and dogs, involving the dimensions of Dog-Owner Interaction, Perceived Emotional Closeness, and Perceived Costs. They found associations between demographic variables and the likelihood of owners scoring high or low on certain dimensions of the questionnaire.
A sociocultural difference was found between Brazil and Spain: Brazilian owners with higher education (completed higher education or post-graduate) were less likely to be in the group with the highest scores in Perceived Emotional Closeness compared to owners with lower education. This result is the opposite of what was found in the Spanish population.
For Brazilian owners, taking care of their dogs does not seem to be a burdensome task. Furthermore, they strongly agree that their dogs offer constant companionship and will be there to help them overcome difficult moments.