The researchers are Linköping University have determined that the stress level in a dog’s owner has an affect on their dogs. However, they took this study a step further than previous studies to see if the link between dogs and their owners was different for different breeds of dogs.

The first group of dogs were from hunting breeds that were bred to be independent. The second group were from ancient breeds such as the Shiba Inu, Basenji and Siberian Husky. They compared their recent study to a previous study of herding breeds.

They found that long-term stress was least likely to influence the ancient breeds. The hunting breeds showed links between the personality of the owner and their relationship to their dogs. The herding breeds had a unique synchronization with long term stress in their owners.

Author’s note: Research of this nature will help us explain and understand behavior and training issues that may arise between dogs and their owners. It is also worth considering when matching the right breed for a family or individual person. Not all people are a good match with each other, not all dogs are right for each person either.