Dog ownership satisfaction relates to the quality of life of both owner and dog, and when seriously compromised may even lead to dog abandonment. Knowledge on determinants of dog ownership satisfaction is limited, obstructing solutions for promoting satisfaction, and here we quantified causes making dog owners less than very satisfied with their dog. We focused on the owner perceived relationship with the dog, unwanted dog behaviour, and dog obedience class attendance. The study population included only few seriously dissatisfied dog owners, preventing discrimination of multiple levels below ‘very satisfied’. Consequently, existing relationships in the entire population may have been missed or underestimated and the findings apply specifically to dog owners that are relatively contented with dog ownership. Nine hundred seventy-seven Dutch dog owners completed an online questionnaire and we found the probability of being very satisfied to associate with all three subscales of the Monash Dog Owner Relationship Scale. Most strongly with perceived costs of ownership and less so with shared activities between owner and dog, and perceived emotional closeness to the dog. Aggression and/or disobedience related directly to high perceived ownership costs and to an increased probability of being less than very satisfied. Interaction effects indicated that dog disobedience was less influential on ownership satisfaction at high levels of aggression. Surprisingly, dog ownership satisfaction was unrelated to dog obedience class attendance, raising questions about the effectiveness of these classes in establishing satisfying dog-owner relationships. Training aids used during classes could play a role here, as choke chain use associated with high perceived costs and increased probabilities of being less then very satisfied with dog ownership. Ownership satisfaction in relatively contented dog owners, seems more influenced by unwanted dog behaviour and perceived costs of ownership, than by perceived emotional closeness to the dog, shared activities and dog obedience class attendance.

狗主人的满意程度关系到主人和狗的生活质量，严重受损时甚至可能导致狗被遗弃。关于狗主人满意度的决定因素的知识是有限的，阻碍了提高满意度的解决方案，在这里我们量化了导致狗主人对他们的狗不太满意的原因。我们重点研究了主人与狗的关系，不受欢迎的狗行为以及上课时的狗服从情况。研究人群中只有极少数严重不满意的狗主人，从而防止了对“非常满意”以下多个级别的歧视。因此，整个人群中的现有关系可能已经被遗漏或被低估了，这些发现特别适用于相对满足狗主人的狗主人。977名荷兰狗主人完成了在线问卷调查，我们发现与莫纳什狗主人关系量表的所有三个子量表相关联的可能性非常大。最强烈的感觉是拥有成本，而主人和狗之间的共享活动更少，而感觉到与狗的情感亲密感则更弱。侵略和/或抗命直接关系到高额的拥有成本和不完全满足的可能性增加。交互作用表明，在高水平的攻击下，狗的不服从对主人满意度的影响较小。令人惊讶的是，狗主人的满意度与狗的服从班级的出勤率无关，这引发了有关这些班级在建立令人满意的狗主人关系方面的有效性的问题。上课期间使用的训练辅助工具可能会在这里发挥作用，因为窒息链的使用会带来高昂的可感知成本，并增加了对狗主人的满足感降低的可能性。相对满意的狗主人的主人满意度似乎受狗的不良行为和拥有成本的影响更大，而不是与狗的情感亲密感，共同的活动和狗的服从程度。