{"id":167,"date":"2025-10-27T14:39:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T12:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koirangeenit.fi\/?page_id=167"},"modified":"2026-01-29T09:58:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T07:58:40","slug":"kiintymyssuhde","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/koirangeenit.fi\/en\/kiintymyssuhde\/","title":{"rendered":"Owner\u2013Dog Attachment"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to Participate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the moment, our group does not have active data collection ongoing for attachment research. Data collection has been completed, and the research is currently in the analysis phase. However, as a part of Me and my dog<\/a><\/strong> course we also collect questionnaire responses on attachment for potential future studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact Persons<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Email for behavioral studies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doctoral researcher Aada St\u00e5hl: aada.stahl@helsinki.fi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Owned-dog attachment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Just as with personality, there are individual differences in attachment styles. Adult attachment relationships, including those with pets, are often described using a two-dimensional model. For an anxious attachment style,<\/strong> it is characteristic to have strong concern for the pet\u2019s well-being, fear of losing the pet, and a high need for closeness, which may lead to frustration if the pet is distant or becomes more strongly attached to someone else. In avoidant attachment style<\/strong> Closeness is experienced as uncomfortable, and the individual maintains physical and emotional distance and does not seek support from the pet. Secure attachment style<\/strong> means that the person is not particularly anxious or avoidant in their relationship with the pet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our research group has previously investigated how a dog owner\u2019s psychological well-being, the personalities of both the owner and the dog, and the dog\u2019s undesirable behavior are related to anxious and avoidant attachment styles. We are currently studying whether owners and dogs are similar to each other and how this similarity affects the attachment relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Puppy blues<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our research group has studied why some dog owners experience a drop in mood and increased strain after bringing a puppy home, a phenomenon that resembles postpartum \u201cbaby blues.\u201d Caring for a puppy can evoke worries, fears, and frustration, and forming an attachment to the dog may initially be difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, we collected experiences from over a hundred dog owners who had experienced emotional strain after bringing a puppy home. Based on these observations, we developed a questionnaire to assess \u201cpuppy blues.\u201d Using this new measure, we gathered responses from over 2,000 dog owners and validated its reliability. We are currently investigating whether factors such as the owner\u2019s personality traits can explain why some experience puppy blues while others do not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kuva: Kaisa Eskola<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Research publications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pet and owner personality and mental wellbeing associate with attachment to cats and dogs.<\/a> St\u00e5hl A, Salonen M, Hakanen E, Mikkola S, Sulkama S, Lahti J, Lohi H. iScience. 2023 Nov 9;26(12):108423. doi: 10.1016\/j.isci.2023.108423. eCollection 2023 Dec 15. Lue Helsingin yliopiston uutinen tutkimuksesta: ”Omistajan persoonallisuus ja psyykkinen hyvinvointi heijastuvat ihmisen ja lemmikin v\u00e4liseen kiintymyssuhteeseen”<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Development and validation of the puppy blues scale measuring temporary affective disturbance resembling baby blues.<\/a> St\u00e5hl A, Salonen M, Hakanen E, Mikkola S, Sulkama S, Lahti J, Lohi H. Npj Ment Health Res. 2024 Jun 7;3(1):27.Read an article from university of Helsinki in Finnish: ’Koiran pentuaika voi aiheuttaa \u201dbaby bluesin\u201d kaltaista \u201dpuppy bluesia\u201d’<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Osallistuminen T\u00e4ll\u00e4 hetkell\u00e4 ryhm\u00e4ss\u00e4mme ei ole k\u00e4ynniss\u00e4 aktiivista aineistonkeruuta kiintymyssuhdetutkimukseen. Aineistonkeruu on valmistunut, ja tutkimus on parhaillaan analyysivaiheessa. Kuitenkin Min\u00e4 ja koirani -kurssin yhteydess\u00e4 ker\u00e4\u00e4mme kyselylomakkeella vastauksia my\u00f6s kiintymyssuhteesta mahdollisia tulevia tutkimuksia varten. Yhteystiedot K\u00e4yt\u00f6stutkimuksen s\u00e4hk\u00f6posti: lohi-kaytostutkimus@helsinki.fi V\u00e4it\u00f6skirjatutkija Aada St\u00e5hl: aada.stahl@helsinki.fi Ihmisen kiintymyssuhde koiraan Samoin kuin persoonallisuudessa, my\u00f6s kiintymisen tavoissa on yksil\u00f6llisi\u00e4 eroja. Aikuisten kiintymyssuhteita, my\u00f6s suhteessa […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":214305071,"featured_media":210,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_wpcom_ai_launchpad_about_page":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_gallery_page":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-167","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PgSGUO-2H","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koirangeenit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koirangeenit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koirangeenit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koirangeenit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214305071"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koirangeenit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/koirangeenit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1043,"href":"https:\/\/koirangeenit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/167\/revisions\/1043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koirangeenit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koirangeenit.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}