AGGRESSIVE-BEHAVIOR IN ENGLISH COCKER-SPANIELS AND THE PERSONALITY OFTHEIR OWNERS

The aim of the study was to determine whether there is an association between the personality of the owners of English cocker spaniels and t he expression of aggressive behaviour by their dogs. Two-hundred-and-e ighty-five owners of purebred English cocker spaniels completed the Ca tell 16 Personality Questionnaire. One-hundred-and-twenty-eight of the m owned 153 dogs previously classified as being 'low' in terms of aggr essiveness and 157 owned 172 dogs classified as being 'high' in terms of aggressiveness. Both groups of owners were similar in terms of a va riety of demographic variables, including the number of adults and chi ldren in the household, the type of house and the sex of the owner. Th e dogs in both groups were similar in age, age when acquired and sex r atio. Analyses of the data using unpaired t-tests revealed that the ow ners of high aggression dogs were significantly more likely to be tens e (P<0.001), emotionally less stable (P<0.01), shy (P<0.01) and undisc iplined (P<0.05) than owners of low aggression dogs.