Dog Owners are Blind to Their Badly Behaved Pets, While Puppy Socialisation is Key to a Well Trained Dog According to New Research by Pet365

LONDON, June 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Dog owners believe their own pets are far better behaved than they are, while puppy socialisation is the key to a well-behaved dog finds a new survey conducted by Pet365. The 18-month-old UK retailer surveyed 1,000 pet owners to get their figures and published the results in a clever and easy-to-read infographic on the site's popular blog.

The survey asked 10 questions about dog training and dog behaviour of both dog owners and non-owners. The responses highlighted two interesting findings:

Most dog owners think their own dogs are better trained than the average dog.

The survey asked dog owners to rate how well trained their dogs are on a scale of 1 to 10. Later in the survey, they were asked how well trained the average dog is.

In response to the first question, 51.9% of dog owners rated their dogs a 7 or 8 on the behaviour scale. An additional 15.4% gave their dogs a 9 or 10 rating. By contrast, only 16.1% of dog owners gave their dogs a rating of 4 or 5 on the scale, with a paltry 3.9% rating their pets' training a 1 or 2.

By contrast, when asked how well-trained the average dog is, 46.2% rated the training of other people's dogs at 4 or 5 out of a possible 10, while only 23.1% gave the average pup a more generous 7 or 8 rating.

Matthew Beswick, director of Pet365, commented "It's fascinating that pet owners basically ignore their bad behaviour of their own dogs while accentuating the same in others."

Dogs who had been socialised as puppies are easier to train as they grow up.

Pet365 asked dog owners if they had attended puppy socialisation classes with their pets when the dogs were puppies. Later in the survey, they were asked to rate the difficulty of training their dog on a scale of 1 to 10.

Only 34% of overall dog owners had attended puppy socialization classes but, among people who owned 3 dogs or more, that percentage shot up to 50.6% - proof that pet owners learn from their mistakes.

When asked to rate the ease of training their dog on a scale of 1 to 10 - with 10 being the easiest - pet owners who had not attended puppy socialisation classes were nearly twice as likely to rate their dogs at the difficult end of the scale, with 9.6% giving their dogs a rating of 3 or lower. By contrast, only 4.5% of dog owners who had socialised their puppies rated the ease of training their dogs at 3 or lower.

When it comes to actual training, a whopping 94% of dog owners spend at least some time working with their dogs at home, with greater than 55% spending an hour or more weekly in training time with their dogs. An impressive 90% of all dogs will sit on command and an equally impressive 83% will stay when told and recall (come) when called.

The full research, image and raw data can be found at: http://www.pet365.co.uk/blog/dog-training-information/

About Pet365

Pet365 is a UK based online pet retailer, shipping worldwide and stocking a vast array of luxury pet brands. With a focus on creating a great experience for pet owners, their focus isn't just on selling products - it's also about producing amazing content for pet owners to digest. More information can be found at pet365.co.uk and any enquiries emailed to press@pet365.co.uk.

Tel.: +44(0)1525-229474