Although dogs are highly valued by some members of the community, many owner-dog relationships fail. Very little is known about factors that affect the stability of the bond between a human and a dog. My name is Dr Jacqueline Ley and I am a researcher at Monash University, researching human-companion animal interactions. My colleague, Dr. Pauleen Bennett, and I wish to identify the factors important to a strong bond between humans and their dogs.
We are inviting people who have owned their dog for 12 or more months to fill in our on-line questionnaires. These questionnaires include a personality questionnaire for your dog, and a short one for yourself, a questionnaire about how attached you feel towards your dog and some questions about the activities you do with your dog. We are also collecting demographic information about yourself and about your dog. It takes about 30-45mins to complete all the questions.
Participation in this research is entirely voluntary, anonymous and confidential. Your anonymity will be protected because no names will be used in any reports or articles arising out of this study. While data gathered for this study are required to be kept in a secure place for five years, no individual will be identified by these records. If you are interested in learning about the results of this study or have queries regarding this research, you may contact me by email at Jacqueline.Ley@med.monash.edu.au
| If you would like to contact the researchers about any aspect of this study, please contact the Chief Investigator: | If you have a complaint concerning the manner in which this research (CF08/1676 2008000853) is being conducted, please contact: |
| Dr. Pauleen Bennett School of Psychology, Psychiatry & Psychological Medicine Pauleen.Bennett@med.monash.edu.au |
Human Ethics Officer Standing Committee on Ethics in Research Involving Humans (SCERH) Building 3e Room 111 Research Office Monash University VIC 3800 Tel: +61 3 9905 2052 Fax: +61 3 9905 1420 Email: scerh@adm.monash.edu.au |
Yours sincerely
Jacqui Ley