Doctoral Student Profile

Clare Browne

Supervisors: Nicola Starkey, James McEwan, Mary Foster

Dog-human communication: factors that affect the success of dog training
I am interested in dog behaviour and training. Dogs are social animals with a well-developed repertoire of communicative behaviours and are extremely good at reading human behaviour. Dogs have become an integral part of most human societies, and as such, clear communication is essential to maintain harmony in both working and companion relationships. Training dogs is reliant on being able to communicate our intentions to them successfully. Miscommunication can lead to confusion, stress and a breakdown of the trainer-dog relationship. Unwanted dog behaviours (i.e. fear, aggression, hyperactivity) increase the likelihood of owners relinquishing their dogs and most dogs taken to animal shelters are surrendered because of perceived behavioural problems. Effective training may help to reduce many behaviour problems that lead to the abandonment of dogs. The aim of my PhD is to apply our current knowledge of human-dog communication to training situations and to examine the relative importance of different variables present during dog training.