People's Perceptions of Dog Welfare
Lili ChinDec 14, 2022
Notes from a paper by Cobb, Lill, and Bennett that Hal Herzog tweeted about recently with regards to the "Lake Wobegon Effect" of dog ownership. I thought this study was very interesting and would love to read a sequel to these findings!
It was especially interesting to read that people generally perceive pedigree show dogs as having the worst welfare due to hereditary diseases/extreme morphological changes.
When my husband (not a dog person) and I went to a local dog show earlier this year for my drawing research, on seeing all the dogs on tight high collars being moved around on short leashes, prodded, manhandled, brushed, blow dried, dusted with powder, and also we saw one dog being SLAPPED on the nose by their handler (!!!)
Nathan's comment on their welfare was: "Why can't these dogs just be dogs?" The conformation environment seems aversive enough! Someone please prove me wrong.
EDIT TO ADD:
- Tommy Tomlinson's book, Dogland, offers a look inside the world of dog shows and zooms in on the relationships between handlers and theirs dogs and their deep loving bonds. (*this doesn't mean that aversive training techniques are not still used. The book doesn't get into training.)
- Also See my blog post on Lauren Novack's paper on how welfare can be assessed scientifically.
