tjhowell

Hi everyone, I am one of the researchers on this project, and I am responsible for the day to day running of the survey. First of all, I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who has completed the survey. We really appreciate you taking the time to make your opinions known. For people who have concerns, this is to be expected in a topic which is controversial. As Diana said, we are looking for a variety of responses from all over the spectrum, including industry members, animal advocacy groups, veterinarians, and the general public (among others). We want to make sure that everyone has a chance to have their say about an issue that many people are clearly passionate about. If you have any questions that you would like to ask me directly, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] Thanks very much, Tiffani Howell

haha it's a small world. I'm glad you are enjoying the survey. Good luck figuring out whose dog is whose ;)

Hi everyone, Thanks for your input. I agree with many of you that buying based solely on looks isn't a good idea, but like many of you also stated, I also acknowledge that it's very common. For better or for worse. To the people who had questions about which photo they were shown: we have a set of 40 photos, each of a different dog, and everyone who completes the survey is randomly assigned one dog photo. If you happen to get the same breed you own, it's entirely by accident -- in fact, one person told us that she has gotten the photo of her own dog! We certainly don't want that to happen, but we can't really control it.

Ah, sorry, if you have more than one dog, please pick the dog with the name closest to the letter 'A' when completing the information about your own dog.

Thanks very much. I know what you mean and in a way I agree with you. But in fact people do make judgement calls all the time based solely on appearance, especially when it comes to dogs. This may be less so in the case of people on this forum who are very interested in lots of different types of dogs, but in general I think it probably happens a lot. We're just trying to figure out a way to quantify that :)

Hello again everyone, Many of you have helped me out in the past when we've been running dog-related surveys, and your information have been really helpful to us. It's that time again! This time the survey is very short (less than 10 minutes most likely) and it should be fun. We will be asking you to look at a photo of a dog and rate that dog's personality and appearance based solely on the photo. This will help us understand whether people who don't know a dog rate their personality, based only on appearance, the same as their owner who knows them well. It proceeds entirely online, and we'd really appreciate it if you'd help us out :) Here's the link: http://latrobepsy.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0368coFCdKE7uEB Please feel free to share it with friends and family who you think might be interested. Also, we're not just looking for dog owners and lovers, but also people don't own or don't even like dogs. Our only requirements are that participants be 18 or over and fluent in English. Thanks very much :) Cheers, Tiffani

or is that blurb the bit above the "I have read the ..." bit? It doesn't seem to be labelled. yes, it's the statement just above :)

Absolutely! I would really appreciate that. The more people we can get the better. If anyone else wants to share with family/friends/facebook, please feel free to do so :)

Thanks again everyone. This is such a big help for us :)

Do they all go on itty bitty little leashes? With tiny individual balls of yarn as rewards. Learning itty bitty kitty tricks? Like how to appropriately position yourself in super cute places like "The hallway at midnight" and "the kitchen during dinner time" And there's probably an entire portion devoted to being clever on camera so their videos end up going viral on YouTube ;)

You guys rock!!! Thank you all so much :)

I have to admit I had never heard of kitten school until I started working on this survey, but there you go :) Thanks to everyone who has done the survey. I really appreciate it. :)

Hi everyone, I put this in the "studies about dogs" thread, but Sally suggested that I create a new post for more visibility. I've posted a couple of times here before when I need help with some dog research that I'm running, and you have always been so helpful, as a group, that I am calling on you again! This time we're hoping to get information about pet-keeping practices for dog, rabbit, bird, and cat owners. By pet-keeping practices I mean things like what you feed your dogs, how you house them, how many you have, how much time you spend with them, etc. I know that people have a lot of strong opinions about what SHOULD be done, but there's precious little data out there to let us know what's actually going on. If you'd be willing to help me out by completing this survey, I'd really appreciate it The survey is entirely online, at http://latrobepsy.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_798ffxGeA8nMOqh Thanks in advance!

Thanks, Sally :) Will do! Hi Tiffany Can I suggest you start a new thread in general discussion? Your post may get lost in here! Hope you're keeping well :) Cheers Sally.

hmm, that's annoying. Let's try once more: http://latrobepsy.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_798ffxGeA8nMOqh Hopefully that will work. Sorry about that.