https://doi.org/10.52973/rcfcv-e33226
Received: 30/12/2022 Accepted: 02/03/2023 Published: 12/03/2023
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Revista Científica, FCV-LUZ / Vol. XXXIII, rcfcv-e33226, 1 – 10
ABSTRACT
This research was carried out to determine the identication of the
awareness, attitude and sensitiveness of dog owners in Türkiye, and
levels of understanding the body language of dogs. The research
material consisted of data obtained from face-to-face surveys with
randomly selected 172 dog owners. In the study, the differences
between the education level categories of dog owners were found
to be statistically signicant (P<0.01), but not for marital status, child
ownership, age and household income (P>0.05). In addition, the rate
of those who did not have children was found to be higher among
those who adopted dogs for the reasons of animal love/compassion
(58.6%) and feeling of loneliness (75.0%). According to the ndings,
dog owners spend a maximum of 1-2 hours with their dogs during the
day. Men have more diculty in caring for their dogs than women due
to lack of time, nancial constraints and other reasons. In this study,
dog owners were able to correctly identify 10 of the 20 images of dog
body language at a medium and high level (50.0-95.3%), and 10 of them
at a low and very low level (47.7-4.1%). As a result; It is important for
those who want to have a dog to make an attempt by questioning
whether they have the necessary time, energy and nancial means.
In addition, it is thought that it is important to learn the body language
of dogs, that there is a need for institutional structures that will help
people who own or want to acquire dogs in this regard and in the
eld of general breeding, and teach them the requirements of their
responsibilities.
Key words: Awareness; dog body language; dog owner; attitude
RESUMEN
Esta investigación se llevó a cabo para determinar la identicación
de la conciencia, la actitud y la sensibilidad de los dueños de perros
en Turquía, y los niveles de comprensión del lenguaje corporal de los
perros. El material de investigación consistió en datos obtenidos de
encuestas cara a cara con 172 dueños de perros seleccionados al azar.
En el estudio, se encontró que las diferencias entre las categorías
de nivel educativo de los dueños de perros eran estadísticamente
signicativas (P<0,01), pero no para el estado civil, la propiedad
de los hos, la edad y los ingresos del hogar (P>0,05). Además, se
encontró que la tasa de quienes no tenían hos era mayor entre
quienes adoptaron perros por razones de amor/compasión animal
(58,6 %) y sentimiento de soledad (75,0 %). Según los hallazgos, los
dueños de perros pasan un máximo de 1 a 2 horas con sus perros
durante el día. Los hombres tienen más dicultades para cuidar a
sus perros que las mujeres debido a la falta de tiempo, limitaciones
nancieras y otras razones. En este estudio, los dueños de perros
pudieron identicar correctamente 10 de las 20 imágenes del lenguaje
corporal canino en un nivel medio y alto (50,0-95,3 %), y 10 de ellas en
un nivel bajo y muy bajo (47,7-4,1 %). Como resultado: Es importante
que aquellos que quieren tener un perro lo intenten preguntándose
si tienen el tiempo, la energía y los medios económicos necesarios.
Además, se piensa que es importante aprender el lenguaje corporal
de los perros, que existe la necesidad de estructuras institucionales
que ayuden a las personas que poseen o quieren adquirir perros en
este sentido y en el campo de la cría en general, y enseñar ellos los
requisitos de sus responsabilidades.
Palabras clave: Conciencia; lenguaje corporal canino; propietario;
actitud
Determination of awareness, attitude and sensitiveness of dog owners and
levels of understanding of dog body language
Determinación de la conciencia, actitud y sensibilidad de los dueños de perros y niveles de
comprensión del lenguaje corporal del perro
İbrahim Şeker
1
* , Ömer Erten
2
and Abdurrahman Köseman
3
1
Fırat University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Zootechny. Elazığ, Türkiye.
2
Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University, Kemaliye Hacı Ali Akın Vocational School, Department of Veterinary Medicine. Erzincan, Türkiye.
3
Malatya Turgut Özal University, Akçadağ Vocational School, Plant and Animal Production Department. Malatya, Türkiye.
Corresponding author: iseker52@gmail.com
FIGURE 1. The dog body language scale used in the study. This gure
has been modied from Lili [
20]
Characteristics of dog owners and their level of understanding dog body language / Şeker et al. __________________________________
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INTRODUCTION
Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and human are species that incredibly
communicate and understand each other. They share common
emotions. In the developed world, the most common role of a dog
as a pet is companionship [16]. Thus, motivations, attitudes and
behaviours of the present and possible dog owners, generates a small
but important eld that should be evaluated in an interdisciplinary
manner. The most common factors in owning a dog are the physical
appearance, behaviour and health of the dog, social effects such as
the popularity of certain races, demographic and socioeconomic
factors and the previous owning experience of the owner [15].
Currently, irresponsible production, purchasing and as a direct
result of this action, welfare problems are important common issues
for all races of dogs [9]. Internet is a way to buy puppies, which is
increasingly getting widespread. In the United States, 19% of the
puppies were obtained from shelter, 27% were obtained from raisers
and 1% were obtained from the internet in 2008 [33].
Along with the simplicity of owning a dog, the presence of a thought
that many people are keeping a pet, results in the feeling that everyone
can have a pet and keeping a pet is easy. Likewise, if individuals have
kept dogs previously, they believe that they know how to live along
with all types of dogs. Therefore, most dog owners believe that they
do not need to be trained on how to look after their dog. Most of
the owners believe that they love their dogs and thus they are good
owners [27]. However, in order to adjust the management strategies
of the owners to their needs, they have to understand and interpret
the dogs’ behaviours. Additionally, understanding the body language
of the dogs helps people understand the emotions of the animals.
Facial expressions and the body posture of the dogs may provide
important information on their moods and emotional situations [13].
In a study investigating the awareness and sensitiveness of the dog
owners, despite having been aware of the health problems of their dogs,
19.9% reported that their dogs had a minimum of one conformational
operation, 36.5% reported that their dogs had experienced temperature
regulation problem, 17.9% reported that their dogs had experienced
breathing problems, and 70.9% mentioned tragically that their
brachycephalic dogs were very healthy or pretty healthy [26].
Currently, dog owners in Türkiye are increasing in number every
day. However, the issue whether the given care and nutrition for these
dogs are sucient or not, is of much concern. Most commonly, dogs
are owned on a momentary basis; however, the own living and welfare
rights of the dogs are underestimated.
The awareness, attitude and sensitiveness of dog owners in Türkiye
and their level of understanding the body language of the dogs are
important issues to be determined. Scientic studies on the subject
are lacking. Thus, the aim of the present study was to determine the
awareness, attitude and sensitiveness of dog owners with regard to
sociodemographic characteristics due to the widespread owning,
feeding and raising of dogs, which are one of the most commonly
owned pets. Furthermore, measuring the levels of understanding
the body language of the dogs by the owners and the related current
situation in Türkiye was to be investigated.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The study was conducted in the clinics and animal hospitals of 4
Cities (Ankara, Antalya, İstanbul, İzmir), which have a high number of
clinics and animals’ hospitals intensively acting for pets in Türkiye.
The clinic and animal hospitals, and dog owners to be included in
the surveys of the study were randomly selected, and face-to-face
surveys were conducted with the owners who accepted to participate
in the study. In this study conducted between May and October 2021,
during the pandemic conditions, the survey data obtained from a total
of 172 dog owners constituted the material of the study. The ethical
approval necessary for the study was obtained from Erzincan Binali
Yildirim University, Human Researches Ethical Committee (date:
30.04.2020, no.: 04/15).
The survey form used in the study included two parts. In the rst
part, dog owners were asked sociodemographic questions, their
reason for owning their dogs, the time period they shared with their
dogs, the most complicated problems they experienced, if they
punished their dogs or not, whether they had owned and left a dog
previously, and in the second part, they were asked to ll a visual
scale on the body language of the dogs [20] (FIG. 1). The questions in
the survey were prepared by the researchers beneting from similar
studies [10, 11, 12, 29].
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The descriptive statistics of the data obtained in the study were
calculated. In this context, numbers and percentages (%) were
calculated for each parameter. Some of the questions were not
answered by the owners. The survey was prepared according to
volunteering, and the owners were free for not answering some of the
questions. Thus, the number of answers to the questions (frequency)
were different for each question. Instead of revising the lacking
answers according to the number of all participants, the statistic
calculations were performed over actual answers. The Pearson chi
square test was used to evaluate the gender, age, marital status,
having children, educational status and income status of the dog
owners as demographic characteristics, and rates of correct and
incorrect answers (%) to the questions on the understanding of body
language of dogs. The level of signicance was accepted as P<0.05
[1]. The SPSS 22.0 program package was used for both the descriptive
statistics and the calculations of the analyses [31].
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Determining the sociodemographic characteristics and dog owning
situations of the dog owners
In this study, the sociodemographic characteristics of the dog
owners by gender have been presented in TABLE 1. Only differences
among the educational levels within the sociodemographic
characteristics were observed to be signicant (P<0.01).
TABLE I
Sociodemographic characteristics of the dog owners by gender
Characteristics
Female Male
P
n % n %
Marital status
Married 36 46.8 43 45.9
ns
Single
41 53.2 52 54.1
Child ownership
status
Yes
32 41.6 41 43.2
ns
No
45 58.4 54 56.8
Age (year)
20 and less
10 13.0 9 9.4
ns
21-30 27 35.1 40 42.1
31-40 20 25.9 25 26.3
41-50 9 11.7 12 15.5
51 and more
11 14.3 9 9.4
Education level
Primary
education
0 0.0 10 10.6
**
Secondary
education
23 29.9 38 40.0
Associate
degree
22 28.6 14 14.7
Undergraduate
education
23 29.9 28 29.4
Graduate
education
9 11.6 5 5.3
Household
income (USD/
month)
355,62 $ and less
10 13.0 20 21.1
ns
355,63 $ – 1319,96 $ 52 67.5 53 55.8
1319,97 $ and more 15 19.5 22 23.2
USD: USA Dollar, ns:
P>0.05, **: P<0.01
The rates of singles and married owners were observed to be
similar. Accordingly, it may be concluded that the marital status
has no effect on owning a dog. Although no correlation was found
between having children and owning a dog, the rate of participants
with no children was higher than those who had children. The rate of
owners aged 21-40 was observed to be higher compared to <20 age
and >41. The age of male owners in the 21-30 age group was observed
to be higher compared to female owners of the same age group.
According to the results, the rate of owners aged 31-40 were similar.
Among the female dog owners, mid-school, associate degree and
university graduates had the highest rate and were similar. Among
the male dog owners, mid-school and university graduates had the
highest rate. The rate of female, mid-school graduate dog owners
were lower compared to male owners of the same type, whereas the
rates of university graduate female and male owners were similar.
In the study of Kubinyi et al. [18] conducted in Germany, 79.6% of
the dog owners were female, 64.9% were male, 5.3% were in the 31-60
age group, 5.3% were <18, 40.3% were mid-school graduates, 2.0%
were high school graduates, 22.3% were primary school graduates,
and 11.4% were university graduates. In another study conducted by
Meyer and Forkman [24] in Denmark, 77.9% of the dog owners were
female, 83.8% were married and 41.6% had children. In this study, the
educational status of the dog owners and the results showing that the
majority of the dog owners were older and youngest group included
the lowest level of dog owning, were compared to the study conducted
in Germany, and similar outcomes were observed. Furthermore, the
rate of married women among dog owners were lower compared to
that in the study in Denmark, and similar with regard to the rate of
dog owners with children.
The results on the reasons for dog owning have been presented in
TABLE II. The question on the reason for dog owning in the study was
answered as animal love/compassion in 81.4% of the participants,
as loneliness in 16.3% and as other/gift in 2.3% (P<0.01) (TABLE II).
Kubinyi et al. [18] reported the rate of dog owners who owned
their dogs to make them a member of the family to be the highest.
In the study of Kobelt et al. [17] conducted in Australia, friendship
was mentioned to be the most important reason for owning a dog
(74%). These results were identical to the outcomes observed in the
present study indicating that animal love/compassion and feeling of
loneliness were the most common reasons for owning a dog.
Meyer and Forkman [24] reported a negative correlation between
owning a dog plus having children and being fond of the dog. Those
who had children had spent less time and money and felt less love for
their dogs. Likewise, Marinelli et al. [22] reported that owners with no
children were found of their dogs more than those with children. These
results were similar to the outcomes observed in the present study
indicating that people who had children owned dogs at a lower rate.
In this study, it was observed that the longest duration of owning
a dog among the participants was 49 months and longer for females,
and the shortest duration was 25-36 months. The same rates were
37-48 and 7-12 months among males. In the light of the ndings
obtained, female owners had a longer past with their dogs compared
to male owners. This indicates that females owning the same dog for
more than 4 years were more advantageous than males who owned
the same dog for less than 1 year, with regard to knowing their dogs
and experience (TABLE III).
Characteristics of dog owners and their level of understanding dog body language / Şeker et al. __________________________________
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TABLE II
Dog owners' dog adoption reasons
Characteristics
Animal love/
mercy
Feeling of
loneliness
Other/ present
Gender
Female
n 65 1 11
% 46.4 33.3 39.3
Male
n 75 2 17
% 53.6 66.7 60.7
P ns
Marital status
Married
n 64 1 13
% 45.7 25.0 46.4
Single
n 76 3 15
% 54.3 75.0 53.6
P ns
Child ownership
status
Yes
n 58 1 14
% 41.4 25.0 50.0
No
n 82 3 14
% 58.6 75.0 50.0
P ns
Education level
Primary education
n 9 0 1
% 6.4 0.00 3.6
Secondary education
n 51 1 9
% 36.4 25.0 32.1
Associate degree
n 32 1 3
% 22.9 25.0 10.7
Undergraduate
education
n 36 1 13
% 25.7 25.0 46.4
Graduate education
n 12 1 2
% 8.6 25.0 7.1
P ns
Age (year)
20 and less
n 16 0 4
% 11.4 0.00 14.3
21-30
n 62 1 5
% 44.3 25.0 17.9
31-40
n 34 1 7
% 24.3 25.0 25.0
41-50
n 14 1 6
% 10.0 25.0 21.4
51 and more
n 14 1 6
% 10.0 25.0 21.4
P ns
General
%
n 140 4 28
P
81.4
x
2.3
z
16.3
y
**
ns:
P>0.05, **: P<0.01,
x,y,z
: Difference between values with different letters on the same line is important (P<0.05)
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According to the results obtained in the study, the highest rate of
the females shared 1-2 hours with their dogs daily, and the lowest rate
of them shared 6-10 hours with their dogs; the highest rate of males
shared 1-2 hours, 3-5 hours at a similar rate, and the lowest rate shared
11 hours or longer. The similarity between females and males who spent
1-2 hours with their dogs daily is notable (TABLE III). Likewise, Philpotts
et al. [27] reported that the most common 5 welfare problems of owning
a dog included leaving the dogs alone for delayed hours. Kubinyi et al.
[18] reported that approximately 70% of the participants of the survey
spent more than 3 hours with their dogs daily, and that they played with
their dogs every day. The outcomes of the study demonstrated that
dog owners in Germany spent more time with their dogs compared
to owners in Türkiye.
Dog owners frequently underestimate the duration they leave
their dogs alone. Dogs necessitate companionship and are social
animals. Some dogs suffer even when they are left for short periods.
The duration dogs can be left alone depends on factors such as race,
age, education, previous experience of leaving alone lifestyle and
need for sheltering for the dog. However, no dog should be left alone
routinely for more than 4 hours.
The subjects regarding diculties dog owners had been time in
39.0%, money in 15.7% and “other” for 45.3% (P<0.01). The status of
their child ownership status was found to be statistically signicant
in terms of the most challenging issues for dog owners while raising
dogs (P<0.01) (TABLE IV).
It was observed that males had more problems in looking after their
dogs compared to females due to time insuciency, limited budget and
other reasons. Owners with no children had more problems compared to
those with children for all three mentioned reasons (P<0.01) (TABLE IV).
In the study of Applebaum et al. [2] during the COVID-19 pandemic,
it was observed that 7% of the participants could not run the risk of
having pets due to a possible income loss in case of a job loss. This
TABLE III
The time dog owners spend with their dogs and the
time they spend together during the day
Characteristics
Female Male
n % n %
The time (hours) dog
owners spend with their
dogs during the day
1-2 25 32.4 34 35.8
3-5 21 27.3 33 34.8
6-10 13 16.9 18 18.9
11 and more 18 23.4 10 10.5
P ns
Dog owners' stay with
their dogs (months)
0-6 11 14.3 11 11.6
7-12 16 20.8 26 27.4
13-24 15 19.5 16 16.8
25-36 7 9.1 16 16.8
37-48 8 10.4 6 6.3
49 and more 20 26.0 20 21.1
P ns
ns:
P>0.05
TABLE IV
The most dicult issues for dog owners when raising dogs
Characteristics Time
Limited
budget
Other
¥
Gender
Female
n 31 10 36
% 46.3 37.0 46.2
Male
n 36 17 42
% 53.7 63.0 53.8
P ns
Household
income (USD/
month)
355,62 $ and less
n 8 8 14
% 11.9 29.6 17.9
355,63 $ – 1319,96 $
n 43 16 47
% 64.2 59.3 60.2
1319,97 $ and more
n 16 3 17
% 23.9 11.1 21.9
P ns
Child ownership
status
Yes
n 32 4 37
% 47.8 14.8
a
47.4
No
n 35 23 41
% 52.2 85.2
b
52.6
P **
Education level
Primary
education
n 3 1 7
% 4.5 3.7 9.0
Secondary
education
n 24 7 29
% 35.8 25.9 37.2
Associate
degree
n 10 11 14
% 14.9 40.8 17.9
Undergraduate
education
n 23 7 21
% 34.3 25.9 26.9
Graduate
education
n 7 1 7
% 10.4 3.7 9.0
P ns
Age (year)
20 and less
n 3 6 10
% 4.5 22.2 12.8
21-30
n 31 12 25
% 46.3 44.4 32.1
31-40
n 19 4 21
% 28.4 14.8 26.9
41-50
n 8 2 11
% 11.9 7.4 14.1
51 and more
n 6 3 11
% 8.9 11.1 14.1
P ns
General
%
n 67 27 78
P
39.0
y
15.7
z
45.3
x
**
USD: USA Dollar, ns:
P>0.05, **: P<0.01,
¥
: barking of the dog, defecating in
the house, complaints from the neighbours, health problems of the owners,
obligation of vacations, and others,
a,b
: Difference between values with
different letters on the same columna is important (
P<0.05),
x,y,z
: Difference
between values with different letters on the same line is important (
P<0.05)
Characteristics of dog owners and their level of understanding dog body language / Şeker et al. __________________________________
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rate was lower than the rate of females and males who had diculties
in looking after their dogs due to limited budget in the present study.
The needs of the dogs and the potential of the owner to meet these
needs may change at an important extent during the lifetime of a
dog. Therefore, it is obvious that owners may sometimes meet their
needs and sometimes not. Problems and diculties of the regular
life include economic and psychological aspects. Likewise, emotional
addiction to the dogs could further complicate these diculties. In
order to be affected by these negative conditions at a minimal rate, it
is believed that animal-related foundations and associations should
provide support for both the animals and the owners.
In this study, the case of punishments of the dogs by the dog
owners were investigated, and it was observed that 57.6% sometimes
punished their dogs, 34.3% never punished, and 8.1% punished their
dogs always (P<0.01) (TABLE V).
Some of the most frequent ways of punishing the dogs are hitting
or kicking them, yelling at them and forcing the dog to leave an object
physically, and glaring at the dog [14]. Punishing the dog does not
only affect the dog, but it affects the owner as well. Reward-based
education is less stressful and painful for the dog. Therefore, it is safer
for the owner [8]. In the study of Valtonen et al. [32] in Finland, it was
reported that violence against animals necessitated Veterinarian
permanent emergency precaution applications and interrogation
of the police. 70.0% of the denouncements were related to dogs,
and 9.6% of all cases detected were reported by veterinarians for
police questioning.
Punishment of dogs should be the nal solution in an education;
the placement, condition and route of punishment should be
evaluated very carefully. People should primarily know that the
dog has needs and that these needs should be considered; dogs
should be empathized, and kindness should be shown. However,
the eciency of these strategies is related to factors such as the
previous experiences, habits, emotions, perceptions, prejudgements,
attitudes, beliefs, characters, intelligence and self-awareness. Thus,
public inspection and sanction are important for the impropriety of
punishers and should be kept active as a tool.
The results on getting support of dog owners from experts about
the care of the dogs in the present study have presented on TABLE VI.
In the present study, the highest rate of getting support was
observed among males, the 21-30 age group and university graduates.
The least support was observed to be by primary school and university
graduates (TABLE VI).
Millions of dog-human relationships fail each year worldwide.
Some of them arise from simple and avoidable non-conformities.
Non-realistic and false expectations related to the behaviours of a
dog is a common cause of disarray of the animal-human relationship.
Veterinarians can reduce the frequency of false expectations and
improve the rate of successful dog owning by providing consultation to
the customers prior to owning by helping them arrange many factors
of dog owning, by preparing them for taking the responsibility of the
dogs they will own and by training them on the needs and behaviours
of the dogs [21]. However, dog owners obtain information not only
from veterinarians, but from other sources as well [28]. These sources
include TV programs, internet or videos. Many of these information
is mostly from advertisements that may mislead the owners and
negatively affect dog welfare [27]. The most popular sources of
TABLE V
Situations of dog owners punishing their own dogs
Characteristics Every time Sometimes Never
Gender
Female
n 5 46 26
% 35.7 46.5 44.1
Male
n 9 53 33
% 64.3 53.5 55.9
P ns
Child
ownership
status
Yes
n 6 45 22
% 42.9 45.5 37.3
No
n 8 54 37
% 57.1 54.5 62.7
P ns
Age (year)
20 and less
n 2 10 7
% 14.3 9.9 11.9
21-30
n 4 41 22
% 28.6 41.4 37.3
31-40
n 6 26 13
% 42.9 26.4 22.0
41-50
n 2 13 6
% 14.3 13.2 10.2
51 and more
n 0 9 11
% 0.0 9.1 18.6
P ns
Education
level
Primary
education
n 0 6 4
% 0.0 6.1 6.8
Secondary
education
n 8 34 19
% 57.1 34.3 32.2
Associate
degree
n 4 19 13
% 28.6 19.2 22.0
Undergraduate
education
n 2 29 20
% 14.3 29.3 33.9
Graduate
education
n 0 11 3
% 0.0 11.1 5.1
P ns
Total
n 14 99 59
P
% 8.1
z
57.6
x
34.3
y
**
ns:
P>0.05, **: P<0.01,
x,y,z
: Difference between values with different letters
on the same line is important (
P<0.05)
information in the United Kingdom are the internet, veterinarians
and books, with veterinarians being the most common source [19].
Dog walkers and daily dog-sitters may have minimal information and
experience regarding dogs, or they may not have any information at
all. However, many owners deliver their dogs to these people happily
without concern. Therefore, any potential advice from these people
who are automatically accepted as experts may be harmful for the
______________________________________________________________________Revista Cientifica, FCV-LUZ / Vol. XXXIII, rcfcv-e33226, 1 – 10
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owners and reduce the welfare of the dog instead of improving it [27].
Dog owners should therefore get information from real experts and
should choose the person carefully to obtain advice.
The ndings on cases and reasons for dog owners to adopt and
abandon another dog before have been presented in TABLE VII.
In this study, the rate of abandoning a dog previously was observed
to be higher among males (11.6%) compared to females (10.4%).
According to the ndings, the rate of abandoning due to diculties
in care of the dogs was higher among males (63.64%) compared to
females (25.0%), and the rate of health issues among females (37.5%)
was higher compared to males (9.09%). Time insuciency was 37.5%
among females and 27.27% among males (TABLE VII).
Philpotts et al. [27] reported that dog owning, and subsequent
abandoning were one of the most frequent issues in dog welfare
problems. In the study of Baquero [3], violence (83,6%), health issues
(38%), behavioural problems (20,9%), moving to another house (13,3%),
insucient space (3,8%), pregnancy (3,8%), problem causing (3,8%),
approaching death (3,8%) and being elderly (3,8%) were reported as
the main causes of dog abandoning. Mota-Rojas et al. [25] observed
that the economic status and time insuciency, return from vacation,
complaints of the neighbours, the reality of a puppy growing up,
dog diseases and being elderly were the common causes of dog
abandoning. However, objectively, many dogs living in the streets
or in the barns have been abandoned. Many owners realize that dog
owning is not as easy as they expect, and they abandon them [4].
In the present study, the reasons for abandoning were asked to
the participants under 3 main titles; however, it is obvious that many
factors contribute to the situation. Dog owners may give many other
reasons for their abandoning to justify themselves. On the other hand,
dog abandoning leads to important health, political, socioeconomic
and welfare problems within the society as well.
Understanding level of dog owners at dog body language
In this study, the differences between categories of educational
status, time spent for the dogs and time the owners shared with their
dogs with regard to the correct understanding of the visual scale for
the body language of dogs were found to be signicant (P<0.01). The
results on the correct understanding of the visual scale for the body
language of the dogs for the owners have been presented in TABLE
VIII. The ndings on the level of understanding the body language
of the dogs with regard to gender, educational status, time spent
with the dogs and time the owners shared with their dogs have been
presented in TABLE IX.
It was observed that among the 20 gures in the visual scale, dog
owners could identify 10 of them with moderate and high accuracy
(50.0–95.3%), and 10 of them with low and very low accuracy (47.7–4.1%).
Figures that were identied correctly at the highest level were those that
represented pleased and very happy, and at the lowest level they were
those that repressed peaceful-no problem, concerned and stressful.
TABLE VI
Status of dog owners getting support from
experts about the care of their dogs
Characteristics Yes No
Gender
Female
n 43 34
% 43.0 47.2
Male
n 57 38
% 57.0 52.8
P ns
Age (year)
20 and less
n 9 10
% 9.0 13.8
21-30
n 39 28
% 39.0 39.1
31-40
n 29 14
% 29.0 19.5
41-50
n 12 10
% 12.0 13.8
51 and more
n 11 10
% 11.0 13.8
P ns
Education level
Primary
education
n 3 7
% 3.0 9.7
Secondary
education
n 34 27
% 34.0 37.5
Associate
degree
n 18 18
% 18.0 25.0
Undergraduate
education
n 35 16
% 35.0 22.2
Graduate
education
n 10 4
% 10.0 5.6
P ns
ns:
P>0.05
TABLE VII
Cases and reasons for dog owners to adopt
and abandon another dog before
Female Male
Previous dog ownership
and abandonment
Yes
n 8 11
% 10.4 11.6
No
n 69 84
% 89.6 88.4
P ns
Reasons for saying "yes"
Diculty in care
n 2 7
% 25.0 63.64
Health reasons
n 3 1
% 37.5 9.09
Lack of time
n 3 3
% 37.5 27.27
P ns
ns:
P>0.05
Characteristics of dog owners and their level of understanding dog body language / Şeker et al. __________________________________
8 of 10
Salgirli et al. [30] reported important differences between male
and female participants with regard to identication of emotional
situations of the dogs through images in the videos, and no difference
was determined between females and males with regard to the answers
given for the perceptions and dominant behaviours of the dogs. In that
study, 71.4% of males and 58,1% of females dened the emotional
situations of the dogs as comfortable and all the dogs in the videos
were mostly dened as comfortable (68.4%) and self-condent (65.1%).
The dominant behaviours of the dogs were playfulness (23.0%) and
friendliness (19.2%). Catalán et al. [7] mentioned that experienced
veterinarians were successful at determining the behaviours of the
dogs, and that moderate to low-experienced veterinarians were
not. Among the veterinarians, 66.18% could identify the violence
and concern behaviours of the dogs, whereas 49.39% had made
accurate interpretations. Bloom and Friedman [5] determined
that the body language of the dogs could be interpreted differently
among experienced and non-experienced individuals. Likewise, it was
determined in the study of Bloom et al. [6] that university students could
signicantly correctly identify 6 different emotions (happiness, sorrow,
anger, fear, disgust, surprise) in Doberman, Rhodesian and Malinois
from their body languages. Accurate identication of the emotions was
lower for Dobermans, which was related to small emotional hints of the
body that could be masked due to the dark fur colour of these dogs.
Those who could accurately evaluate the body language of the dogs
at the highest rate were: males, mid-school graduates, those who
spent 1-2 or 3-4 hours with their dogs daily, and who had a past of 7-12
or 49 months or longer with their dogs (TABLE IX). On the contrary,
correct evaluation was lower among females, primary school and
master’s degree graduates, those who spent 6-10 or 3-4 hours with
their dogs daily, and among those who had a past of 37-48 months
with their dogs.
In the present study, a signicant difference was observed between
genders with regard to body language gures of seeking for love-
attention and curious, and between the educational status of the
owners with regard to the gures of concerned, friendly, seeking
for love-attention, satised and hello-willing to communicate. An
important difference was observed between the owner groups of time
spent daily with regard to body language gures of concerned, seeking
for love-attention and hungry, and between the time passed until
owning with regard to the gures of friendly and very happy. Marshall-
Pescini et al. [23] reported that the human-based communicative
behaviours of the dogs affected the individual education experiences
at an important extent. Hasegawa et al. [13] reported that a dominant
dog would have a self-condent posture and walk, risen head and
ears, large eyes, bended lips and mildly moved risen tail; dogs that
express violence or dominance, or those with the feeling of challenge
or having been threatened, had widened pupil and risen ears.
TABLE VIII
Frequencies and ratios in the correct evaluation
of dog body language images
Question
number
The correct answers
to the question
Correct answers
n %
1 Alert 50 29.1
2 Anxious 143 83.1
3 Threatened 95 55.2
4 Angry 128 74.4
5 Stressed 42 24.4
6 Peace 7 4.1
7 Respect 30 17.4
8 Stalking 77 44.8
9 Stressed 24 14.0
10 Need space 82 47.7
11 Friendly 113 65.7
12 I’m your lovebug 86 50.0
13 Hello 131 76.2
14 Ready 90 52.3
15 You will feed me 65 37.8
16 Curious 126 73.3
17 Happy 162 94.2
18 Overjoyed 164 95.3
19 Hello 57 33.1
20 Relaxed 82 47.7
TABLE IX
Dog owners' levels of understanding dog body
language according to different characteristics
Characteristics
Correct answer
(%)
Gender
Female 45.17
Male 54.83
P ns
Education level
Primary education 6.64
c
Secondary education 34.19
a
Associate degree 20.22
ab
Undergraduate education 29.10
a
Graduate education 9.85
bc
P **
Time spent with the dog
during the day (hours)
1-2 32.87
a
3-5 31.15
a
6-10 17.37
b
11 and more 18.61
b
P *
Dog owners' stay with
their dogs (months)
0-6 13.73
abc
7-12 23.94
ab
13-24 16.16
abc
25-36 13.22
bc
37-48 8.34
c
49 and more 24.61
a
P **
ns:
P>0.05, *: P<0.05, **: P<0.01,
a,b,c
: Difference between values with
different letters on the same columna is important (
P<0.05)
______________________________________________________________________Revista Cientifica, FCV-LUZ / Vol. XXXIII, rcfcv-e33226, 1 – 10
9 of 10
As observed in literature reports, the body languages of the dogs
cannot be precisely dened in any of the communications tools such
as images, gures or videos. Each emotion of the dogs is expressed
via body language; therefore, the whole-body language of the dogs
should be dened better, especially for each race.
CONCLUSION
Dog owning and raising necessitates economic and emotional
suciency, as well as devotion, knowledge and experience. In the
present study, both the positive conditions concerning dog owning
and raising, and the improper and insucient conditions have been
presented. The most important insuciencies determined in this
study have been listed as follows:
• The time owners spend with their dogs is very limited.
•
Having children was mentioned as an important factor that is
related to the diculties of owning a pet.
•
The rate of previous owning and abandoning a pet is really high.
•
Dog owners punish their dogs at a rate that cannot be
underestimated.
•
More than half of the dog owners are insucient in accurately
determining the gure presented in the visual scale regarding
the body language of the dogs.
Accurate and effective dog owning necessitates understanding
of the emotions, expectations and needs of the dogs at a correct
and high level and leading them. These sensitive, loyal and friendly
animals deserve respect and dog owning should be a positive attempt.
Therefore, the correct dog selection should be made; owners should
have knowledge on the care, feeding, education, health and welfare
of the dogs; the age and physiological needs of the dogs should be
considered independent from the race and with the aim of feeding
of the dogs, a healthy environment should be provided, and actions
should be made accordingly. Additionally, it is important for the
individuals who want to own dogs to have sucient time, energy and
economic situation, and to make decisions accordingly. Institutive
structures should be constructed to orient people about owning a
pet, the needs of the dogs and how to meet these needs, and the
responsibilities to be undertaken.
In conclusion, for a better animal-human relationship and a healthier
sociological environment, people who want to own dogs should be
given basic ability and capability trainings; obligatory home control
visits should be performed to follow-up the health and welfare of the
dogs, and deterrent sanctions should be put into action.
Conıct of ınterest statement
The authors declare there is no conict of interest.
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