Effects of Mindfulness Practice on Owner-Reported Dog Behavior and Relationship

Mindfulness practices have been shown to improve human emotional regulation and attentional accuracy, yet their impact on the perception of companion animal behavior remains largely unexplored. This study investigates whether a mindfulness program for owners influences their evaluation of dog behavior and the dog-owner relationship. Participants were assigned to either an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Human-Animal Relationship (MBHAR) program (n = 102) or a control group (n = 51). The MBHAR protocol included formal meditation and informal daily exercises practiced in the presence of the dog. Evaluation was conducted at baseline (T0) and post-intervention (T1) using the Italian validated versions of the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ) and the Monash Dog-Owner Relationship Scale (MDORS). Data were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) to control for age and sex. While initial non-parametric analyses suggested improvements across several C-BARQ factors, after Bonferroni correction and GLMM validation, only "Stranger-directed aggression/fear" showed a robust and significant decrease in owner-reported scores in the mindfulness group compared to the control group. No significant changes were found in MDORS scores, indicating that the perceived quality of the relationship remained stable. The results suggest that mindfulness practice specifically influences how owners perceive and report their dog's fearful or aggressive responses toward strangers. These findings highlight the potential of mindfulness as a tool to modify owner perception, which may influence the management of canine behavioral challenges, although its impact on the structural dimensions of the dog-owner bond appears limited in the short term.