Dogs are social animals, and when we bring them into our homes, in many ways we bring them into our “packs.” They are a species that seeks social interaction, both with humans and with other dogs, and much of their daily lives is based on social relationships. Through various forms of socialization, dogs create “attachment bonds” with people and with each other. However, other than maternal bonds, the social relationships between unrelated dogs have not been extensively studied. This study aimed to fill that gap.

The researchers here wanted to “assess whether the bond between adult cohabitant dogs may be regarded as attachment.” They studied 22 companion dogs in a modified version of the Ainsworth Strange Situation Test (or ASST), “with a cohabitant dog (presumed attachment figure) and an unknown person (stranger),” to see if these dogs would exhibit three behaviors associated with attachment: “searching response, contact maintenance effect, and secure base effect.” The researchers selected the dogs from existing pairs of dogs living in the same household who were not aggressive toward each other.

The researchers found little difference between dog genders: “as females and males behaved virtually in the same way, data of the two genders was combined for further analyses on the whole group.” The results of the study were less than conclusive regarding attachment, but the researchers did find that “dogs were more stressed when in complete isolation than in the company of a familiar dog.” Other scenarios, however, showed that “the presence of a human being, although unfamiliar, had a strong ameliorative effect.” The researchers concluded that “the presence of an attachment bond between adult dogs was not fully supported by our results,” but that the presence of a familiar dog reduces stress related to isolation. They also noted that it was “unsurprising” that the presence of strangers had an ameliorative effect.

While the results of this study were geared towards understanding attachment bonds between dogs, animal advocates will note other implications. Separation anxiety can be a major problem for busy humans who live with dogs; it’s a topic that we have covered many other times on our site. The findings of this study suggest ways that separation anxiety can be reduced by increasing socialization with other dogs. Although have multiple dogs may not be possible for everyone who lives with companion animals, this study shows some promising results and offers a new dimension in how to deal with separation anxiety issues.