How Dog Behavior Influences Pet Owner’s Perceptions of Dog Preference for Dental Chews

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Most studies on dog food and treat preferences focus on owner reports about the product and how much the dog consumes. The aim of this study was to examine dog behavior and engagement in a home-environment with eight different dental chews. Owners submitted a video of their dogs which was analyzed to investigate any relationship between coded dog behavior and owner survey responses for preference among the chew types. Owner-reported dog preference related more to the video coded behavior than their own preference providing some preliminary guidance on what factors might relate to product preference and purchase and how analysis of in-home behavior may better guide pet product research. ABSTRACT: American pet owners spend billions of dollars on food and treats so it is important to understand what products they want and what they think their dog would enjoy. This study analyzed video recordings of dogs engaging in dental chews in their home environment and compared the observed appetitive behaviors to owner preference and owner-reported dog preference. Overall, appetitive behavior differed significantly between some dental chews. Owner preference for the chews correlated significantly with dog appetitive behavior, but the effect was small (r (702) = 0.22, p = 0.001), whereas owner-reported dog preference correlated significantly with dog appetitive behavior and showed a moderate effect size (r (702) = 0.43, p = 0.001)—similar in magnitude to findings when parents are asked to report on their children’s behavior. By merging objective behavioral observation of owner-recorded videos with their survey responses, we were able to preliminarily parse out what factors owners may use to assess preference and encourage the future use of in-home video recordings to better understand dog and owner engagement and interaction with pet products.