A new study, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science, surprisingly found that the sex of the owner had the biggest effect on whether or not a dog would threaten or bite another dog.
According to the study, dogs walked by men are four times more likely to threat and bite other dogs than dogs and dogs on a leash are more likely to act aggressively than dogs off the leash.
Petr Rezac, associate professor in the Department of Animal Morphology, Physiology and Genetics at Mendel University (in the Czech Republic) led the study. He and his colleagues studied close to 2,000 dog-dog interactions on owner-led walks held in the city of Brno, Czech Republic. Observations were made in the mornings and afternoons at 30 different areas of the city where owners frequently walk with their dogs.
Read the interesting article by Jennifer Veigas on Discovery.com for more information.
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