1,721,069 research outputs found
The Latin Owner: profiles, perceptions and attitudes of Italian cat and dog owners towards their pet
Full text linkIntroduction
Nowadays animal companionship is an integral aspect of life in Europe, with approximately 81 million registered dogs and 99.2 million cats (1). This research aims to identify characteristics of dog and cat-owning households from a large cross-sectional web-based survey in Italy.
Material and Methods
Owners over 18 years old were asked information about themselves, their dogs, cats and their relationship with their pets. Data was analysed using Pearson’s χ2 tests and logistic regressions (SPSS).
Results
3,298 owners completed the survey, 31.8% and 40.3% of whom owned dogs and cats respectively, and 72.8% both. People aged 18 to 30 years were more likely to own a dog than older respondents. Compared to cat owners, dog owners were more likely to believe that their pets considered them to be conspecific group members, rather than “only humans”. Dogs were more likely to be purebreds adopted for companionship. Cats were significantly more likely to be mixed breeds adopted because they needed a home. Dog owners were significantly more likely to rate other owners as an important source of information regarding handling and training than cat owners. Despite a similarly high prevalence of reported intraspecific aggression and noise reactivity among dogs and cats, dog ownership significantly increased the likelihood of the owner’s actual willingness to change a pet’s behavior. Cat ownership increased the likelihood that owners would consider surgical sterilisation as an option to correct behaviour.
Conclusion
These results may be useful in helping behaviour practitioners address population changes in terms of human-pet bonds and plan prevention and treatment strategies.
Reference: Statista 2015. Available a
Prevalence of owner-reported behaviours in dogs separated from the litter at two different ages
No full textThe present study examined the prevalence of behaviours in dogs separated from the litter for adoption at different ages. Seventy adult dogs separated from their dam and littermates and adopted between the ages of 30 and 40 days were compared with 70 adult dogs that had been taken from the litter for adoption at two months. Owners were asked to complete a questionnaire eliciting information on whether their dog exhibited potentially problematic behaviours when in its usual environment. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate whether the age at which the dog was separated from the litter might predispose it to developing undesirable behaviours. The odds of displaying destructiveness, excessive barking, fearfulness on walks, reactivity to noises, toy possessiveness, food possessiveness and attention-seeking were significantly greater for the dogs that had been removed from the litter earlier during the socialisation period. In addition, dogs purchased from a pet shop at 30 to 40 days of age were reported to exhibit some of the listed behaviours with a significantly higher frequency than dogs purchased from a pet shop at two months. No significant differences were observed with dogs obtained from other types of sources. The dogs in the youngest age group (18 to 36 months) had a higher probability of displaying destructiveness and tail chasing. These findings indicate that, compared with dogs that remained with their social group for 60 days, dogs that had been separated from the litter earlier were more likely to exhibit potentially problematic behaviours, especially if they came from a pet shop
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Owner-reported aggressive behavior towards familiar people may be a more prominent occurrence in pet shop-traded dogs
Full text linkThere is longstanding recognition of the adverse effect of stressful experiences during early critical developmental periods and the later association with problematic behavioral issues in dogs. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the origin/source of puppies (pet shop vs. breeder) was associated with later potential problematic behaviors. We did a cross-sectional survey of Italian dog owners, who were asked to complete an online version of our Relazione Cane-Proprietario questionnaire, providing information about themselves, their dogs, and whether the animals exhibited any of 16 potential problem behaviors. Pearson χ2 test of independence was applied in 2 × 2 contingency tables and binary logistic regressions to analyze the effects of source of acquisition on behavioral patterns while controlling for various owner- and dog-related variables. The odds of displaying owner-directed aggression were significantly greater for the dogs that had been purchased from a pet store as puppies than those purchased from a breeder (control group). We also found an association between a dog's pet store origin and other potential problem behaviors, including house soiling, body licking, and separation-related behavior, but this relationship was confounded by the effect of a set of owner-related factors. These findings indicate that obtaining puppies from pet stores may predispose them to potentially exhibit owner-directed aggression as adults. We suggest that further research in prevention of problem behaviors in adult dogs should be aimed at identifying the root causes of pet store-related behavioral issues, without ignoring confounding at a household level
Effects of "reading dogs" on reading practice and cognitive abilities in children with pervasive development disorder
No full textEfficient characterization of the electromagnetic-coupling of wire antennas- and graphene patches
No full textIn this contribution, the simulation of electromagnetic coupling of a wire antenna and graphene by means of standard electromagnetic simulators, has been carried out. Simulations are performed at microwave frequency, from DC up to 100GHz, where the electromagnetic response of graphene is almost flat. The actual simulated device is given by a resonating wire-antenna, made of a CNT of finite conductivity, perturbed by the close proximity of a graphene patch: many other choices were possible, but the present test resembles the interaction of a microscope-tip with graphene, and may have some interesting fallouts on the experimental side. All the simulations are performed, for comparison, by an independent tool, based on the method of moments. © 2014 European Association on Antennas and Propagatio
Are dogs stressed during reading sessions with children with pervasive developmental disorders?
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