Perfect match – Understanding personality based compatibility in dog-owner dyads

The compatibility (i.e., the best match) of a dog and it’s owner based on their personalities is a promising criterion for evaluating the functionality of their relationship, especially in working dog dyads. This study is possibly the first to investigate this compatibility by testing 92 dog-human teams, including guide dogs for the blind and police dogs. The personality of both partners was assessed, as well as various relationship parameters, their performance (i.e., speed and accuracy) as a team in an obstacle course, and their performance in a showing paradigm (i.e., speed and accuracy). We found that relationship satisfaction was highest when humans and dogs both scored low on openness or agreeableness. These results support the hypothesis that compatibility is reached via corresponding (i.e., same) traits. However, teams comprising highly agreeable dogs and humans performed poorly in the obstacle course. Performance in both behavioral tasks was highest in teams with dogs that were more open and extraverted. These results contribute to the understanding of a functional dog-human relationship and can potentially inform suitable assignment of dogs to owners, thereby preventing the returning of (working-) dogs.