Effect of our mental health on dog behaviour?

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Zula77

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Hi dog owners, I know how vital the comfort and support of our dogs can be for our mental wellbeing; I'm looking into how our psychological functioning affects our dogs for my MSc, if you're also interested and want to be part of some new and interesting research I'd really appreciate it if you fill in my questionnaire:

The questionnaire

It's entirely anonymous. There's an email address if you want more info or want to know your results. Thanks so much if you decide to do it ?
 
I've completed it, but it would be handy if there was a section asking about dog health. Mine is more or less blind and thats why he's frightened on walks of strange dogs. He never used to be fearful.
 
DiNozzo said:
I've completed it, but it would be handy if there was a section asking about dog health. Mine is more or less blind and thats why he's frightened on walks of strange dogs. He never used to be fearful.
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Thanks for doing it! Yes I agree, health plays a significant role in behavioural changes - it's definitely one of many confounding factors that I will address when writing it up :)
 
meleeka said:
I’ve answered but when I was halfway through I wonder if I’d chosen the ‘right’ dog. My two are like chalk and cheese.
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Thanks so much it's really appreciated, and there is no right and wrong as all our dogs are individuals and react differently to our behaviour and emotions, feel free to do it for both dogs but just the once is great, thank you!
 
I'll do the survey; fascinating topic. I had a severe depression at the time our last dog joined us, and I badly regret adopting him at the time. He has anxieties that, in retrospect, are likely to be linked to the negative emotions prevalent in our household at the time.
 
MissTyc said:
I'll do the survey; fascinating topic. I had a severe depression at the time our last dog joined us, and I badly regret adopting him at the time. He has anxieties that, in retrospect, are likely to be linked to the negative emotions prevalent in our household at the time.
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Thank you! Yes I had a couple of very fearful rescue dogs and I do feel like the atmosphere in the house at the time played a role in this fearfulness progressing into aggression - but it definitely depends on the dog - their resilience, sensitivity, background...thank you for the insight into your own experience!
 
Done. I've put my email too - would love to know more about what you find out. Good luck with your writing up!
 
Gosh, that was a bit hard hitting in some places.

I do have an observation...

The survey was all about whether or not you feel worse than before, and how much worse you feel. There was no option for I am more confident than before, I am happier than before etc. etc etc. Is there a presumption that people's life gets worse not better?

There was also something about I have lost X amount of weight, but not about I have put on X amount of weight, or even my weight has changed by X amount. I wondered what significance the losing of weight carries as opposed to putting it on?
 
I might be wrong but I think those questions are a standard/regularly-used psychological measuring tool and my experience is that they always are more negative than positive. I'm guessing but I think OP has chosen probably one of many tool to get our psychological profiles for this particular piece of research. IME, you only get to do a more positive one at the end of a course of therapy, as a sort of reward! Ha.

I'm glad there was no "I have put in weight" as I would have had to have told the truth - bl**dy pandemic! ;)
 
Kat_Bath said:
I might be wrong but I think those questions are a standard/regularly-used psychological measuring tool and my experience is that they always are more negative than positive. I'm guessing but I think OP has chosen probably one of many tool to get our psychological profiles for this particular piece of research. IME, you only get to do a more positive one at the end of a course of therapy, as a sort of reward! Ha.

I'm glad there was no "I have put in weight" as I would have had to have told the truth - bl**dy pandemic! ;)
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I would imagine they are a tool designed for people who have already reported low mood then. I felt that they were out of sorts for an open survey about how mood affects dogs.
 
Completed. I wondered, in the questions about the owner, if covid and lockdown were having an influence; these are not normal times.
 
Red-1 said:
Gosh, that was a bit hard hitting in some places.

I do have an observation...

The survey was all about whether or not you feel worse than before, and how much worse you feel. There was no option for I am more confident than before, I am happier than before etc. etc etc. Is there a presumption that people's life gets worse not better?

There was also something about I have lost X amount of weight, but not about I have put on X amount of weight, or even my weight has changed by X amount. I wondered what significance the losing of weight carries as opposed to putting it on?
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Yes, I noticed that. The weight thing seemed odd generally, I have lost weight due to a special diet on doctors orders so not much to do with my mental health.

Also one about worrying more about aches and pains which in my case is also more about my physical health than my mental health (i.e I had reason to worry more about them recently).
 
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