Dog Owners’ Perceptions of Their Pet Dogs’ Behavior When Owners Became Pregnant

Abstract

Recent anecdotal evidence suggests that some pet dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) display behavior changes when their owners are pregnant. The current study sought to document the proportion of owners who report that their dogs’ behavior changed when they (the owner) became pregnant and to determine if any owner, dog, sociodemographic, or owner pregnancy variables predicted whether owners reported that their dog’s behavior changed during owners’ pregnancies. Participants (n = 130) who owned a dog when they were pregnant completed a custom-made online questionnaire that contained questions about owners’ and dogs’ demographics, owners’ pregnancies, and dogs’ behaviors before and during owners’ pregnancies. Owners also completed two subscales from the Monash Dog Owner Relationship Scale. Results showed that 65.4% of owners reported a change in their dogs’ behavior when they became pregnant, and 26.9% reported that their dogs’ behavior changed before they were aware of their own pregnancy. Sign tests revealed significant increases in behaviors during the owners’ pregnancies for four of five behavior categories examined. A binomial logistic regression revealed that pre-pregnancy behaviors related to guarding around unfamiliar people and fear/anxiety toward other dogs predicted whether owners reported that their dogs’ behavior changed during the owners’ pregnancy. No other dog or dog-owner (participant) demographics or pregnancy variables predicted reported behavioral changes in dogs during owners’ pregnancies. This is the first study to document that a substantial proportion of owners report that their dogs’ behavior changed during their pregnancy. These findings aid our understanding of the relationship between dogs and their owners and owners’ perceptions of their dogs’ behaviors during significant life changes.