|
Are people with fenced
gardens
less likely to exercise
their dogs?
Pauline Lock BSc, (Hons) Psych; Dip CABT; AMACC
|
|
The participants
were dog owners world wide, the survey was carried out over a number of dog
sites (rescue/breed/general behaviour sites) and also from dog owners I met
at training classes
so didn't relate specifically to pedigree or non-pedigree dogs.
|
SURVEY RESULTS
I would like to thank all those that took the time to
respond to my questionnaire
This survey establishes what factors
have the most effect on amounts of exercise the dog's is given and the subsequent
effects on behaviour.
During the time that I have been studying for the "Think Dog!" Advanced course
I have attended many workshops given on a wide variety of topics by knowledgeable
people. The topics have ranged from puppy socialisation, assessing rescue
dogs, clicker training and tackling behaviour problems as well as an interesting
insight into selection and care of prospective police dogs.
One of the speakers, John Rogerson, made an interesting comment that he would
not let any of his puppies to go to a home that had a fenced garden. He argued
that the owners of puppies and dogs who had homes with fenced gardens would
be less likely to take their dogs out denying them the important opportunity
to meet other people and other dogs.
He felt that the puppy would be less likely to gain enough life experiences
during the 3 - 18 week window considered to be the optimum time for socialisation
and habituation to take place. He felt that puppies that do go to homes with
fenced gardens were more likely to experience behaviour problems later on
in life because they were unlikely to get exposed to many new experiences.
The behaviour problems that he would most commonly expect to see that could
be attributed to lack of early learning would be fear aggression directed
towards humans and other dogs.
His argument was reasonable if his first premise that dog owners with fenced
gardens were less likely to take their puppies and dogs out was correct consequently
I produced a survey to test his theory. As there may be other factors that
might have an equally significant effect on the amount of exercise a dog
or puppy receives the survey examines other likely areas that could affect
the amount of exercise a dog will receive and what effects they may have
on behaviour.
Just looking at whether owners have fenced gardens does not take into account
the environment that the dog is living in. People with small fenced gardens
may be more likely to exercise their dogs daily than those with large fenced
gardens and these differences will be considered in the survey. My survey
was taken from 101 dog owners from many countries representing a variety
of breeds and lifestyles.
The dogs were aged from 6 months to 16 years + and the majority of owners
had more than one dog. Owners enjoyed such pastimes with their dogs as Obedience,
beauty shows, agility, flyball, tracking, search and rescue as well as companionship.
Service dogs such as hearing dogs, seeing dogs, pat dogs and those trained
to pull wheel chairs or disabled bikes as well as working as an extra pair
of hands.
Are people
with fenced gardens less likely to exercise their dogs?
Behaviour problems were found to occur in 49% of the dogs that were included
in the survey. The typical problems displayed were towards other dogs 24%,
people 9% or both dogs and people 15% and 1% said to be nervous.
67% of owners that took part in the survey had fenced gardens, 16% had partially
fenced and unsecured gardens and the remaining 17% had unfenced gardens.
When we look at how much exercise is given within each of the fencing categories
we can see that the largest proportion of owners that exercise their dogs
once or more each day have fenced gardens.
Exercise amounts
|
Fenced gardens
|
Partially fenced
|
Unfenced gardens
|
Totals
|
Most
days
|
15%
|
3%
|
3%
|
21%
|
Never
|
1%
|
1%
|
1%
|
3%
|
Once
daily
|
13%
|
2%
|
1%
|
16%
|
Seldom
|
7%
|
2%
|
3%
|
12%
|
Sometimes
|
10%
|
3%
|
3%
|
16%
|
Three
times daily
|
5%
|
1%
|
2%
|
8%
|
Twice
daily
|
17%
|
4%
|
4%
|
25%
|
Grand
Total
|
67%
|
16%
|
17%
|
100%
|
The assumption that puppies and
dogs would not be exercised sufficiently if their owners had a fenced garden
seems to be unfounded the survey found no evidence to support this theory.
Those with fenced gardens were more likely to exercise their dogs once or
more daily while those with partial or no fencing had more owners that did
not exercise dogs at all. On this basis having an unfenced garden is no guarantee
that dogs would receive regular exercise, the reverse would appear to be
true, exercise quotas do not increase when there is no fencing.
Does where the dog live affect
the amount of exercise it might receive?
We can see from this chart that most of the owners included in the survey
came from more populated areas. Very few owners came from farm or remote
areas.
The sizes of gardens in the more populated areas such as the city or suburbs
were mainly small or medium where gardens in small towns were mainly large
or small. As would be expected locations that are less densely populated
such as in rural villages, farms and remote areas tended to have large gardens.
Whatever the size of the garden, the majority of gardens were fenced.
This chart indicates that a few owners had no gardens at all, these owners
regularly exercised their dogs twice or more every day. Most of the owners
lived in the more populated areas and had fenced small to medium sized gardens,
these owners were more likely to exercise their dogs once or more every day.
Contrary to John Rogerson's theory owners with fenced gardens were more likely
to exercise their dogs. As these areas also had the largest amount of small
or medium gardens it is not surprising that they had the greater number of
dogs receiving regular exercise.
Location had a noticeable effect on garden size and on the probability that
the garden would be fenced, location also affected the type of exercise given
and in most cases, the amount of exercise given.
Are dogs that are left alone for long periods less likely to be exercised?
The survey found that the longer dogs are left on their own the less exercise
they receive.
There was an exception where a small percentage of those dogs left for 9
or more hours on a regular basis were exercised two or three times daily.
The general trend was that those dogs that were left for shorter periods
were more likely to be exercised once or more daily.
Does the number of dogs kept affect the amount of exercise given?
The largest number of owners 52% in this survey kept one or two dogs, another
34% had 3 or 4 dogs with the remaining 14% owning from 5 to 10 dogs.
Indications are that where only one or two dogs are kept they tend to receive
regular daily exercise. The numbers of dogs kept does not seem to have a
significant effect on exercise, dogs that are infrequently exercised are
found in fairly high proportions no matter how many dogs are kept but generally
the more dogs owned the less exercise they are liable to receive.
Conclusion: As the number of dogs increases exercise amounts would
appear to diminish. Although there is evidence that owning larger numbers
of dogs reduces the amount of exercise the dogs receive, there was also a
high incidence of dogs being exercised infrequently or never when only one
or two dogs were kept. The relevance of how many dogs were kept in respect
of exercise amounts was not conclusive but was pertinent when considering
the effects of numbers and the incidence of behaviour problems.
Summary
The factors that had the most impact on exercise quotas were found to be
the size and location of the owner's gardens rather than the absence of fencing.
The majority of people that took part in the survey were found to live in
areas that were more densely populated. Typically people with small gardens
in more populated areas were more likely to exercise their dogs regularly
irrespective of the presence of fencing. The one factor in this group that
had most impact on exercise amounts was where owners did not have a garden
at all. In this category dogs were usually exercised twice or three times
daily but were more likely to have behavioural problems.
Dogs that were left on their own for more than 4 hours each day received
less exercise, and there was some indication that the amount of exercise
reduces when more than two dogs were kept. Although this finding was not
conclusive as a number of owners that seldom left their dogs alone or that
only had one or two dogs were also found to never exercise their dogs at
all.
Owning large numbers of dogs and leaving them for long periods does have
some effect on exercise amounts but not as much as where the dog lives and
the size the garden or not having a garden at all.
Does a lack of exercise have an effect on behaviour problems?
Whilst the survey attempts to establish a connection between exercise quotas
and other factors that might affect the way a dog may behave, behaviour is
only a problem when it is perceived as a problem by the owner. Exercise patterns
may be altered to avoid encountering situations that the owner feels are
most likely to give rise to problem behaviour, once the dog is no longer
being given the opportunity to display the behaviour the owner may consider
that the dog doesn't have a problem.
To determine if the dog's environment can influence behaviour I looked at
the percentage of owners that said their dogs had behavioural problems and
the factors that they may have in common. As the largest number of people
in the survey had fenced gardens it is not surprising that they had the greatest
incidence of dogs with problem behaviour however they also had the highest
percentage of dogs without behaviour problems. Problems were proportionally
less likely to occur where owners had partial or unfenced gardens, but not
to any significant degree.
Aggression towards other dogs was the problem most commonly found wherever
owners lived irrespective of the size or fence status of the garden. Those
with fenced gardens who tended to live in the more densely populated areas
preferred lead-walking exercise and those owners living on farms, remote
areas or small towns were more likely to give free running exercise.
Those with unfenced gardens living in small towns, farms and rural areas
that exercise by free running reported no incidences of aggression at all.
Where owners had no garden at all the only type of exercise given was lead
walking and all the owners reported problem behaviour either towards other
dogs or humans or both.
Most owners lead walked their dogs and this group was less likely to have
dogs that displayed behaviour problems. In the group where owners exercised
by free running there were a greater proportion of dogs within that group
displaying aggression towards other dogs and humans
Summary
Owners with fenced gardens were more likely to have dogs that had behaviour
problems, they also tended to exercise dogs by lead walking. These dogs had
more opportunity to meet other dogs and people and one would expect those
dogs that constantly came into contact with other dogs and humans to be better
socialised and equipped to cope with the interactions. However owners that
fell into this category were more likely to experience behaviour problems
with their dogs.
Fewer dogs came from the scarcely populated remote areas and had fenced or
partially fenced gardens, they were all given free running exercise and were
aggressive towards other dogs where those from rural areas were more likely
to show aggression towards people.
Type of exercise, size of garden or fenced status did not seem to have a
significant influence on behaviour. Location was more likely to effect behaviour
with those that live in cities, suburbs or remote areas having a higher proportion
of dogs with behaviour problems. Dogs living in the more isolated areas may
not often meet other dogs or people and consequently seldom get the opportunity
to display aggressive behaviour, therefore it may not be seen as a problem
by the owner.
Is Behaviour effected by the amount of time the dog spends alone?
The owners were split into five groups starting with those owners that hardly
ever leave their dogs alone to those that regularly leave them for up to
11 hours daily. There was two owners that left their dog in excess of 11
hours daily of these, one owner said that they did not have any behaviour
problems with their dogs while the other owner said their dogs had problems
with humans and dogs.
The largest proportion of owners left their dogs for approximately 8 hours
each working day and of these the majority had behavioural problems with
the biggest proportion of dogs being aggressive towards humans and or dogs.
Owners that left their dogs for 5 - 7hours, 8 hours and 9 hours or more were
more likely to experience behavioural problems than those left for no more
than 4 hours or that were never left at all. Only in the group that were
not left alone was there a significant difference between those dogs that
did not have behavioural problems and those that did. This suggests that
the length of time that dogs are left alone has quite a marked effect on
behaviour, dogs that are left alone for long periods are more likely to have
behavioural problems.
Similar comments can be made about the effects that the amount of exercise
has on the dogs behaviour. Dogs that do get regular exercise are less likely
to have behaviour problems, as the exercise becomes less frequent there is
a higher proportion of those dogs showing behavioural problems especially
towards other dogs. The small numbers of dogs that are walked three times
daily are an exception to the above, 64% of these dogs exhibit behaviour
problems.
When evaluating the effect that keeping several dogs may have on behaviour,
problems are less likely to occur if less than 4 dogs are kept.
However a significant proportion of these that do have behaviour problems
show aggression towards other dogs and humans. Where larger numbers of dogs
are kept together there would seem to be a higher proportion of those dogs
that have behaviour problems. As the number of people keeping large numbers
of dogs were not well represented a true comparison was not possible.
Clearly where smaller numbers of dogs are kept a high percentage of those
dogs did not have behavioural problems, the picture changes as the number
of dogs increase and the likelihood of problems occurring also increases.
74% of owners did not have children in the home but where there was more
than one child the percentage of dogs in each group with behaviour problems
increased, there was little apparent affect on the amount of exercise dogs
from families with more than one child received. Numbers of adults had no
noticeable effect on behaviour but the amount of exercise is generally increased
when there are more than one adult in the household.
Where people had health problems the amount of exercise was reduced but dog
behaviour did not seem to be affected to any great degree.
Where dogs were fed twice a day they were less likely to display behaviour
problems.
Conclusion
The initial purpose of the survey was to determine if there was a connection
between having a fenced garden, the amount of exercise dogs or puppies receive
and the incidence of behaviour problems. The premise was that puppies and
dogs whose owners had fenced gardens were less likely to receive regular
exercise, less likely to be socialised and more likely to experience behaviour
problems.
My findings were that the majority of owners had fenced gardens and they
exercised their dogs regularly once or more daily, disproving Mr Rogerson's
theory that people with fenced gardens were less likely to exercise their
dogs. However, those with fenced gardens also had the highest percentage
of dogs with behaviour problems.
Those with fenced or partially fenced gardens and that exercised their dogs
regularly had a lower incidence of dogs with behavioural problems, dogs that
were exercised infrequently and had fenced or partially fenced gardens were
more likely to have behaviour problems.
In populated areas gardens would be smaller and fenced, dogs were more likely
to be exercised on leads in the local neighbourhood rather than free running.
In this group, those dogs that were left alone for long periods were more
likely to display aggression towards other dogs, they were less likely to
be regularly exercised and the same applies when owners kept larger numbers
of dogs. The small number of owners that had no gardens at all exercised
their dogs three times daily and their dogs had a high incidence of behavioural
problems.
As the majority of the owners lived in more heavily populated areas they
would be more aware of a behavioural problem as the dog would be constantly
coming into contact with other dogs and people. Because they are lead walked
they are less able to interact freely with other dogs and are more likely
to have aggression problems with other dogs. When a dog is living in a more
remote area and not constantly exposed to stimuli that might cause anxiety
or aggressive responses the owner may feel that the problem is not a major
problem as it is seldom displayed.
Lack of fencing is not the cause of reduced exercise amounts. The survey
found that owners with large fenced or unfenced gardens were less likely
to exercise their dogs regularly and therefore the dogs did not get the same
opportunity to come into contact with other dogs or people as the dogs that
were exercised in the more heavily populated areas. However, lack of exercise
would seem to have the most significant effect on behaviour, owners that
left their dogs for long periods or kept large numbers of dogs, were less
likely to exercise their dogs regularly.
The amount of time a dog was left alone, the number of dogs kept and the
location that the dog lives in are more likely to affect the amount of exercise
given and the incidence of behaviour problems. Finding owners who had no
garden at all would ensure that the dog got regular exercise but could not
guarantee that they would be free from behaviour problems.
If Mr Rogerson wished to find the ideal owner to ensure that the dog would
receive regular exercise the survey found that the owner would have a fenced
or partially fenced garden in the suburbs or a rural location. To avoid behaviour
problems the dog would receive two or more walks daily preferably lead walking
in the suburbs and free running in a rural area. Ideally the dog would be
an only dog or one of a group of four and the owner would not leave the dog
on its own for more than 4 hours daily.
Reference:
Statistics compiled from survey questionnaire.
