ABSTRACT Despite the prevalence of dogs as family pets and increased scientific interest in canine behavior, few studies have investigated charac- teristics of the child or dog that influence the child–dog relationship. In the present study, we explored how behavioral and some self-report measures influence a child's reported attachment to their dog, as assessed by the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS). We tested specifically whether children (n = 99; mean age = 10.25 years, SD = 1.31) reported stronger attachment to dogs that were perceived as being more supportive (mea- sured by a modified version of the Network of Relationships Inventory), that were more successful in following the child's pointing gesture in a standard two-object choice test, or that solicited more petting in a sociability assess- ment. In addition, we assessed whether children's attachment security to their parent and being responsible for the care of their dog influenced re- ported attachment to the dog. Overall, perceived support provided by the dog was highly predictive of all subscales of the LAPS. The dog's success in following the child's pointing gestures and lower rates of petting during the sociability assessment were associated with higher ratings on the General Attachment subscale of the LAPS, but not on the other subscales. Caring for the dog did not predict the child's reported attachment to the dog, but did predict the dog's behavior on the point-following task and petting during the sociability task. If the child cared for the dog, the dog was more likely to be successful on the pointing task and more likely to be petted. These results indicate a dyadic relationship in which the child's care for the dog is associ- ated with the dog's behavior on the behavioral tasks, which in turn is related to the child's reported attachment to their dog. The direction of influence and nature of this dyad will be a fruitful area for future research.

中文翻译：

---

影响儿童报告对他们的狗的依恋的行为和自我报告措施

摘要 尽管狗作为家庭宠物的流行以及对犬类行为的科学兴趣增加，但很少有研究调查影响儿童与狗关系的儿童或狗的特征。在本研究中，我们探讨了行为和一些自我报告措施如何影响孩子报告的对他们的狗的依恋，正如列克星敦对宠物的依恋量表 (LAPS) 所评估的那样。我们专门测试了儿童（n = 99；平均年龄 = 10.25 岁，SD = 1.31）是否报告了对被认为更有支持性的狗的更强烈的依恋（通过关系网络量表的修改版本测量），即在标准的两个对象选择测试中，更成功地跟随孩子的指向手势，或者在社交评估中请求更多的抚摸。此外，我们评估了儿童对父母的依恋安全感和负责照顾他们的狗是否会影响报告的对狗的依恋。总体而言，狗提供的感知支持对 LAPS 的所有分量表具有高度预测性。狗在社交能力评估中成功跟随孩子的指点手势和较低的抚摸率与 LAPS 的一般依恋分量表的较高评分相关，但与其他分量表无关。照顾狗并没有预测孩子报告的对狗的依恋，但确实预测了狗在社交任务中的点跟随任务和抚摸的行为。如果孩子照顾狗，狗更有可能成功完成指点任务，也更有可能被抚摸。这些结果表明了一种二元关系，其中孩子对狗的照顾与狗在行为任务上的行为有关，而后者又与孩子报告的对狗的依恋有关。这种二元组的影响方向和性质将是未来研究的一个富有成果的领域。