{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,25]],"date-time":"2026-07-25T21:40:26Z","timestamp":1785015626022,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)","issue":"7","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["javma"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2009,4,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p><jats:bold>Objective<\/jats:bold>\u2014To evaluate whether dog owners who are legally considered guardians are more attached to their dogs than those who are not.<\/jats:p>\n<jats:p><jats:bold>Design<\/jats:bold>\u2014Cross-sectional study.<\/jats:p>\n<jats:p><jats:bold>Sample Population<\/jats:bold>\u2014Dog owners from northern California.<\/jats:p>\n<jats:p><jats:bold>Procedures<\/jats:bold>\u2014274 dog owners completed a standardized survey while visiting full-service veterinary and mobile vaccination clinics in a city in which dog owners were legally designated as owner\/guardian and in another city in which no such designation was made. Degree of owner attachment to their dog was assessed with a standardized scale.<\/jats:p>\n<jats:p><jats:bold>Results<\/jats:bold>\u2014The degree to which owners were attached to their dog was associated with city of residence, owner age, and whether owners were completely satisfied with their dog's behavior. Owners residing in the guardian city had a lower attachment score. There was no significant difference in the percentage of dogs vaccinated against rabies in each city, nor was there any difference in the percentage of licensed dogs. Attachment scores did not differ between participants who visited mobile versus free-standing clinics. Owners with &gt; 1 dog in their household reported a higher degree of attachment to the study dog than did owners of 1 dog.<\/jats:p>\n<jats:p><jats:bold>Conclusions and Clinical Relevance<\/jats:bold>\u2014Dog owners residing in a city where owners were legally designated as an owner\/guardian were no more attached to their dog than those living in a city without such a designation. Although results did not indicate a negative impact of the term guardian, its use was not associated with an enhanced bond between owner and dog.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.2460\/javma.234.7.896","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2009,4,1]],"date-time":"2009-04-01T08:01:35Z","timestamp":1238572895000},"page":"896-900","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Evaluation of owner attachment to dogs on the basis of whether owners are legally considered guardians of their pets"],"prefix":"10.2460","volume":"234","author":[{"given":"Timothy D.","family":"Helms","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Melissa J.","family":"Bain","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1272","reference":[{"key":"ref1","series-title":"J Am Vet Med Assoc","first-page":"572","article-title":"Risk factors for relinquishment of dogs to an animal shelter","volume":"209","author":"Patronek","year":"1996"},{"key":"ref2","article-title":"The Guardian Campaign"},{"key":"ref3","article-title":"Policy statements: ownership vs guardianship. 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Cities change identity of pet owners, hoping to promote welfare","volume":"218","author":"Nolan","year":"2001"},{"key":"ref9","series-title":"Anthrozoos","first-page":"225","article-title":"Owners, guardians, and owner-guardians: differing relationships with pets","volume":"19","author":"Carlisle-Frank","year":"2006"},{"key":"ref10","article-title":"State & county quick facts"},{"key":"ref11","series-title":"Anthrozoos","first-page":"160","article-title":"Psychometric evaluation of the Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale","volume":"5","author":"Johnson","year":"1992"},{"key":"ref12","series-title":"Appl Anim Behav Sci","first-page":"43","article-title":"Measuring attachment to companion animals: a dog is not a cat is not a bird","volume":"47","author":"Zasloff","year":"1996"},{"key":"ref13","series-title":"Anthrozoos","first-page":"28","article-title":"Pet attachment and personality type","volume":"18","author":"Bagley","year":"2005"},{"key":"ref14","series-title":"J Appl Anim Welf Sci","first-page":"1","article-title":"What's in it for the companion animal? Pet attachment and college students' behaviors toward pets","volume":"8","author":"Shore","year":"2005"},{"key":"ref15","series-title":"Appl Anim Behav Sci","first-page":"49","article-title":"Evidence for an association between pet behavior and owner attachment levels","volume":"47","author":"Serpell","year":"1996"},{"key":"ref16","series-title":"Soc Anim","first-page":"249","article-title":"Ethnic variations in pet attachment among students at an American school of veterinary medicine","volume":"10","author":"Brown","year":"2002"},{"key":"ref17","series-title":"Soc Anim","first-page":"153","article-title":"The under-representation of African American employees in animal welfare organizations in the United States","volume":"13","author":"Brown","year":"2005"},{"key":"ref18","series-title":"J Am Vet Med Assoc","first-page":"1293","article-title":"Development and validation of a questionnaire for measuring behavior and temperament traits in pet dogs","volume":"223","author":"Hsu","year":"2003"},{"key":"ref19","series-title":"Assessing the human-animal bond: a compendium of actual measures","first-page":"146","author":"Anderson","year":"2007"}],"container-title":["Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/avmajournals.avma.org\/view\/journals\/javma\/234\/7\/javma.234.7.896.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/avmajournals.avma.org\/downloadpdf\/journals\/javma\/234\/7\/javma.234.7.896.xml","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/avmajournals.avma.org\/downloadpdf\/journals\/javma\/234\/7\/javma.234.7.896.xml","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,7]],"date-time":"2025-03-07T13:24:49Z","timestamp":1741353889000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/avmajournals.avma.org\/view\/journals\/javma\/234\/7\/javma.234.7.896.xml"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2009,4,1]]},"references-count":19,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7"},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2460\/javma.234.7.896","relation":{},"ISSN":["0003-1488"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0003-1488","type":"print"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2009,4,1]]}}}