Just as with children, it turns out that pets benefit from a parenting style that shows warmth and takes a positive approach to behavior.
An authoritative parenting style involves affection, positive training, and an awareness of the pet's needs.parenting styles, with one parenting style having better outcomes for the child. In recent years, scientists have turned theirParenting styles for children have two dimensions: demandingness and responsiveness .
The best parenting style is a combination of high demandingness and high responsiveness, and it’s called an authoritative parenting style. It is not to be confused with an authoritarian style, which involves high demandingness but a low level of responsiveness to the child’s needs. . A parent with an authoritative parenting style gives the child choices when they can, but only when it’s responsible to do so. They are willing to explain things and reason with the child, and they also show a lot of warmth and affection towards the child. In contrast, an authoritarian parenting style is very rules-based and expects children to do as they are told.Of course, we can’t reason with our dogs and cats, but nonetheless it’s worth investigating whether parenting styles also apply to caring for a pet. Researchers have looked at whether pet parenting styles exist. They did so by adapting the questionnaire on parenting children to make it refer to caring for dogs.approach is correction-focused and involves telling the dog off or using aversive training methods if the dog misbehaves.approach if the person gave the dog choices and paid close attention to their dog’s needs: for example, allowing their dog to growl if upset and knowing what their dog’s preferences were for toys, food, etc. They called it anapproach if the person used positive reinforcement to train their dog and took the time to get their dog to practice particular behaviors. In later research, they found that pet-parenting style related to how the person behaved towards their dog on a walk that was set up to include some distractions . Dog-parenting styles were also shown to correlate with attitudes towards animals . Dogs whose guardian has an authoritative parenting style are more likely to have a secureto their guardian and have higher scores on measures of sociability and problem-solving . Although most of the research on pet-parenting styles has looked at dogs, a survey of cat guardians found that different humantypes are linked to cat behavior . In particular, high scores on the guardian’s, they were more likely to be satisfied with their cat and to report better scores for their cat’s well-being.Many people with pets also have children. One way that talking about pet-parenting styles may be useful is simply that some pet guardians will already be aware of child-parenting styles: They will have a framework for understanding that some approaches to parenting are better than others, even if they can’t be expected to know the details. Having such a framework may make it easier for them to understand some aspects of pet behavior and training. Knowledge of pet-parenting styles can also be useful because it’s another way of talking about training methods. We know that the use of aversive dog-training methods such as yelling at a dog, using prong or shock collars or leash “corrections” is associated with increasedSimilarly in cats, yelling at the cat or spraying water at them is also associated with negative outcomes. The use of a-based approach comes under an authoritarian parenting style . So knowing about pet parenting styles gives us another way of talking to people about how they train their pets.Everyone should be encouraged to aim for an authoritative pet-parenting style, one that uses positive reinforcement to teach behaviors and shows an awareness of the pet’s needs, including the provision of exercise, enrichment, and of course, choices when appropriate. This is an approach I’ve spent many years advocating for. If you are currently using a correction-based approach with your pet, it’s a good idea to learn more about dog or cat behavior, because, when you understand your pet better, it becomes easier to care for them. And if you’re struggling with your pet’s behavior, reach out to a reward-based dog trainer or cat This kind of approach isn’t better just for the pet; it’s also better for the human if the pet has fewer behavior issues and a better relationship with you.Brubaker, L., & Udell, M. A. . Does Pet Parenting Style predict the social and problem-solving behavior of pet dogs ?.Finka, L. R., Ward, J., Farnworth, M. J., & Mills, D. S. . Owner personality and the wellbeing of their cats share parallels with the parent-child relationship.van Herwijnen, I. R., Van Der Borg, J. A., Naguib, M., & Beerda, B. . The existence of parenting styles in the owner-dog relationship.van Herwijnen, I. R., van der Borg, J. A., Naguib, M., & Beerda, B. . Dog-directed parenting styles predict verbal and leash guidance in dog owners and owner-directed attention in dogs.van Herwijnen, I. R., van Der Borg, J. A., Naguib, M., & Beerda, B. . Dog-directed parenting styles mirror dog owners’ orientations toward animals.Find a TherapistSelf Tests are all about you. Are you outgoing or introverted? Are you a narcissist? Does perfectionism hold you back? Find out the answers to these questions and more with Psychology Today.
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