Dog Weight Management Survey

[Meea]

Anyone at any dog show knows there is NO corrolation whatsoever between the size of the owners and their dogs - *ducks*

[Rebanne]

Anyone at any dog show knows there is NO corrolation whatsoever between the size of the owners and their dogs - *ducks*

how true - I'll duck with you

if I looked after myself they way I look after my dogs

[Zug Zug]

Filled it out the best I can

Please don't tell my dogs which one I picked as my favourite

[bluedeer]

Done :)

[BlaznHotAussies]

I think the survey was to find out if fat and lazy owners had fat and lazy dogs.

I know some people who would fit that

They reckon she's "solid"

But she's FAT. She's a BC/cattle dog - she should be at least some kind of "sleek"

[Lady Flying Furball]

Done. I picked dry and home cooked to cover the raw. It is kind of home cooked or assembled :)

[Kirislin]

I had to stop when I got to the questions about what type of dog, the nibbler the gourmet etc, it was a stupid question and I couldn't fit my dogs into any of the catagories but I couldn't go on until I answered it.

I was frustrated by not being able to continue because of this question. I apologise for saying it was stupid.

[Guest Ams]

I abandoned on the question about walking your dog. I answered never but then it wanted me to specify how much time and whether the dog runs faster than me. I gave up.

[Poppy's mum]

I think if someone gave the "Honours Student" the useful feedback from this forum, it would imporove the standard of her work immensely and save her from submitting such a flawed piece of work at University level. I can't see a student at that level being crushed by honest (if sometimes outspoken) criticism. That's certainly not the way lecturers look at it. It's not like primary school where it's sometimes thought every child must win a prize and never be criticised for poor work or they will be blighted for life.

[espinay2]

Some of the questions were weird and not relevant to me at all. In the end I gave up as my input was becoming not a true indication of what I do

Edited to expand.

Maybe I didnt read properly but it asked 'how many dogs' then all of a sudden the questions were about one dog only. I am guessing we had to choose one to do the questions on

The questions on exercise I couldnt answer properly as most of the exercise my dogs do are free running on our property - not 'walking' and not 'running with' (I don't run! LOL!)

And when my dogs walk on a lead, they walk WITH me because they are trained to - this is not necessarily an indication therefore of what they may 'want' to do physically.

As some have mentioned - no section for raw foods re diet - home cooked is about the closest I guess.

That was the point I stopped as I reaslised that my answeres were not going to be any indication of reality.

Having worked with surveys before, IMO this survey is not well constructed unfortunately and I personally don't think it will result in much in the way of meaningful results

Edited June 1, 2012 by espinay2

[Sandra777]

I had to stop when I got to the questions about what type of dog, the nibbler the gourmet etc, it was a stupid question and I couldn't fit my dogs into any of the catagories but I couldn't go on until I answered it.

Yes I found this one particularly irritating, a dog that eats table scraps in this house is no gourmet :laugh:

Very badly thoughtout and will only give meaningless results. To the question about my height and weight I didn't have the option to say NOYFB!

[aussielover]

I completed the survey to the best of my ability.

However, I hope this is not the main basis for the project. I doubt any meaningful results could be drawn from such a survey alone.

I found most of the questions ok- aimed at the "average" dog owner which is fine, however it did give the impression of not being well researched and poorly written.

For example, as others have pointed out, there were limited options regarding type of food given, limited options for amount of exercise- one of the questions went from one walk a day to exercise "all the time" a term which is not very specific. Perhaps "several times per day" would have been a better option.

I'm not sure about where the questions about if you could afford to feed your dogs fit in???

I found the question about what type of eater your dog is to be very poorly written in particular. Yes, it may be amusing to label dogs in such a way and this is ok for Dog's life magazine or similar, however not really appropriate for a research survey to be written up as a scientific study. There was no option for what I would consider a "normal" dog that pretty much only eats when the owner decides they can eat or if they have worked in some way for the food.

To be honest I think the student may need to reconsider some aspects of the survey- specifically keeping in mind how it could come across as more professional, more thoroughly researched and more scientifically valid.

Hopefully they will take on board some of the feedback given by members here.

[SupaDupa Mini Cooper]

This is a public forum - she may even find the pages herself here?

She might, which is partly why I've asked people not to say things like this:

Dumb questionare-

What no one feeds raw? Oh that's right, proably sucking up to the dog food companies. I think this moronic questionaire is the same one that someone had at the Sydney Pet Expo.

Whippetsmum I have already asked twice that people keep it constructive, this is uncalled for and rude. Have some respect for both my requests and for the author of this survey

I don't want to speak on behalf of the girl who wrote this, but I believe her survey is very much aimed at "average" dog owners who probably feed Pal and occasionally splash out on Supercoat. I apologise if she didn't cater for the 1% of dog owners who are more aware of canine dietry needs, but you are the minority so therefore I can understand why she would not include that option, for all I know she's unaware of raw feeding altogether. I posted it here with her permission as a favour so she could collect as many responses as possible, not so it could be pulled apart and mocked.

As I have already asked, please keep it nice and/or constructive and if you can't fill it out then don't. It's very simple.

I don't recall a question about how much the owner exercises, whether they have health issues, if they take medications, etc...

It could be that she was not allowed to ask these sorts of questions under her ethics approval conditions.

--

A couple of things I think it would be helpful to remember:

- We don't know if this survey is the extent or even the main part of her study. It could be just an extra part of her work and her core conclusions are coming from elsewhere.

- an Honours year is very much a TRAINING position. The students are generally 21 year-olds with NO research experience. The primary objective is to provide these students with experience in designing and running a small project, and if the results turn out to be something that is publishable that is just a bonus. If the research turn out to be flawed or inadequate, it won't make it out into the peer-reviewed literature anyway.

- From what I've seen, many uni's are making students do more and more peripheral work in addition to their thesis (other essays, group projects etc.). It's a tough year. Suggesting helpful advice and constructive criticism is fair and hopefully will be received in the spirit it's intended, but let's cut the kid a break, huh?

Thank you Weasels, so well said :) I've bolded it in the hope more people will read it and calm down.

Ok, what I said was in no way nasty - I have done a B.Sci and I was not an honours student. All I was trying to say was that the questions of the survey do not match with the aim of the survey. How can you determine if the owner is fit and/or healthy if there are now questions related to that?

"The aim of this study is to investigate how a dog’s weight is influenced by its owner’s physical and emotional health. It will include an analysis of how owners feed and manage the weights of their dogs, as well as an examination of how the pet-owner relationship determines the level of anthropomorphic feeding by the owner."

And as far as not being allowed to ask - so it would be ok to ask the owners weight (which is considered one of the most personal questions you could ask), and how often they exercise their pet, but not how much they exercise themselves? Or any other reasons that their BMI is what it is? "Health" is reflected in more ways than the scales.

I wish the person all the best but I doubt they will get any data to reflect their aim.

[Weasels]

Supa - only the comments above the dashes were directed at your post, everything else was just my general musings. Sorry it was ambiguous I thought your post raised perfectly valid questions.

[rusty&biscuit]

What type of canine eater is your dog?

(please tick the most appropriate box)

The Nibbler = Nibbles at the food left out for it all day and eats little at meal times☐

The Beggar = Fusses noisily to get food and gets fed

The Good Dog = Affection from owner and other members of the house is shown primarily through the feeding of treats

The Gourmet Dog = Allowed to eat table scraps in place of or in addition to its main meal(s)

I can't select any of the options. My dogs don't have access to food all day, they don't fuss to get food, affection is not demonstrated through treats, and they don't get table scraps.

They get food as a routine and have to sit politely for it.

Done :) I got stuck on this too as my dog also gets food for routine and sits politely for it. So I had to choose one at random

[Riddick]

The running question I had to answer as fast as me.

But the thing is I don't run but the other part is the wife walks him and he can only run as fast as she does.

Though when on the ovla he runs that fast I think only a Greyhound would catch him.

So this to me was a sort of question which could have had a few more ways to answer it.

[GoldenGirl85]

What type of canine eater is your dog?

(please tick the most appropriate box)

The Nibbler = Nibbles at the food left out for it all day and eats little at meal times☐

The Beggar = Fusses noisily to get food and gets fed

The Good Dog = Affection from owner and other members of the house is shown primarily through the feeding of treats

The Gourmet Dog = Allowed to eat table scraps in place of or in addition to its main meal(s)

I can't select any of the options. My dogs don't have access to food all day, they don't fuss to get food, affection is not demonstrated through treats, and they don't get table scraps.

They get food as a routine and have to sit politely for it.

Done :) I got stuck on this too as my dog also gets food for routine and sits politely for it. So I had to choose one at random

I got stuck on this question too, I selected the good dog, but none of them suited

[OSoSwift]

Some of the questions didn't exactly fit us either but I answered as close as I could.

My dogs do not beg, get fed when I do it and if they beg (they are inside when we eat) or even get off their bed they are put outside. So if there is tea happening they are statues!

I would be interested to see what the end result is.