Parenting styles and choices are known to influence the way that children develop and grow. Researchers are now discovering more about a similar relationship between owners and their pets. How you “parent” your dog has an impact on the kind of dog it grows up to be.

The researchers studied 48 dog owners and their dogs, asking them to complete a pet parenting style survey before joining in three behavioral tests in the lab, assessing attachments and interactions between the dogs and their human owners. Then researchers put the dog owners into three categories: authoritative (high expectations, high responsiveness), authoritarian (high expectations, low responsiveness), and permissive (low expectations, high responsiveness). The three behavioral tests covered attachment (how the dog responded to its owner during close interactions), sociability (how the dog responded when a stranger and its owner changed places with one another in the testing room), and problem-solving.

Dogs with authoritative owners had the highest rate of secure attachment and were highly social and sensitive to social context, compared to dogs with authoritarian or permissive owners. What’s more, the only dogs to solve the problem best came from the authoritative group. So researchers came with the conclusion that an owner who’s highly responsive to a dog’s behavior and needs tends to lead to a more social, secure, and smart dog.

The study matches up in some ways with previous research into parents and kids, specifically that children with authoritative parents are more likely to show secure attachment. It is thought to be because of the reliable support they get. “This research shows that the pet dog-human caretaker bond may be functionally and emotionally similar to the bond between a human parent and their child,” says behavioral scientist Lauren Brubaker.

For now, though, the study is enough to show that there is some kind of relationship between the approach we take as dog owners and the way that those dogs then behave, even with numerous other factors in play. “We still need to conduct more research in this area,” said the researchers in their published paper.

1.What can we know about the research?

A A pet parenting style survey was needed.

B 84 dog owners and dogs took part.

C Dog owners were tested for sociability.

D The dogs were divided into 3 categories.

解析：选A。A细节理解题。根据第二段第一句“The researchers studied 48 dog owners and their dogs, asking them to complete a pet parenting style survey before joining in three behavioral tests in the lab”可知，研究人员招募了48位狗主人(带着自己的狗)，要求他们在参加实验之前完成宠物养育风格的调查问卷，以评估狗与人之间的依恋和互动程度。故选A。

2.What does Paragraph 3 mainly focus on?

A The purpose of the research.

B The process of the research.

C The findings of the research.

D The participants of the research.

解析：选C。C段落大意题。文章第二段介绍了研究的方式，结合第三段内容，尤其是“So researchers came with the conclusion that...”可知，本段主要描述了该研究的结果。故选C。

3.The underlined word “they” in Paragraph 4 refers to_________.

A parents

B pet dogs

C dog owners

D children

解析：选D。D词意指代题。根据前文“children with authoritative parents are more likely to show secure attachment”可知，权威父母的孩子更有可能表现出安全依恋，而这些孩子之所以有这些表现是因为他们得到了可靠的支持，因此they指代的是前一句中提到的表现出安全依恋的孩子。故选D。

4.What’s the purpose of the text?

A To introduce some different pet parenting styles

B To inform readers of a research finding.

C To instruct parents how to parent their kids.

D To persuade dog owners to be authoritative.

解析：选B。B推理判断题。本文主要介绍了一项人与狗关系的质量如何影响狗在行为和认知测试中表现的研究，因此本文主要是为了告知读者关于一项研究的结果。故选B。