Your dog might get smarter if you parent it correctly, a new study finds. Here’s how

Parents are meticulous about how they raise their children, and there has long been debate about the best technique.

But what about how you parent your dog?

New research indicates that parenting styles make a difference in dog behavior, according to a study from Oregon State University researchers Monique Udell and Lauren Brubaker.

Like children, researchers found that dogs, too, are influenced by parenting styles.

The study, released September in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Animal Cognition, analyzed 48 dogs and their owners. Using a “Pet Parenting Style” survey, researchers determined owners’ parenting styles and analyzed how their dogs reacted in various situations.

Unlike other studies examining the influence that humans have on dogs, Udell and Brubaker wanted to explore how an owner’s interactions with their dog at home outside of formal training influences the dog’s cognitive and behavioral choices, the study says.

After analyzing the dogs’ behaviors, researchers say they found some parenting styles elicited higher rates of secure attachment, sociability and success in problem-solving than others.

Specifically, dogs whose owners practice an authoritative style with high expectations and high responsiveness to how their dogs act had better behavior than other dogs, the study says. These dogs were most attached to their owners, the most social, the most sensitive to social contexts and were more persistent and successful when given a problem-solving task.

Authoritative parents, as defined by the study, encourage independence and individuality while also expecting a strong adherence to rules, while permissive parents value their dog’s freedom at any cost.

Dogs of authoritarian owners with high expectations and low response or dogs of permissive owners with low expectations and high responsiveness to their dog’s behavior were less likely to be attached to their owner, sensitive to social contexts or successful in problem-solving scenarios.

While more research is necessary, the study insists that its findings at least suggest that the parent-dog relationship is significant in understanding canine behavior.

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