Do you know how deep your bond with your dog goes - and how deep it can go, given the chance?

The dog guardian relationship is as crucial as a child and parent bond. Researchers proved it using one of the most famous experiments in developmental psychology, adapted for dogs.

In 1969, psychologist Mary Ainsworth developed something called the Strange Situation Test to understand how infants bond with their parents.

The setup's deceptively simple. Bring a parent and child into an unfamiliar room. Let them play together. Parent leaves. Stranger enters. Parent returns. Stranger leaves. Various combinations of separations and reunions.

What made this test brilliant wasn't observing whether children got upset when their parent left. It was observing how they behaved when their parent came back.

That reunion behaviour reveals critical truths about the attachment bond.

Securely attached children get upset when the parent leaves but settle quickly when they return. They use their parent as a secure base, exploring confidently when the parent's there, seeking comfort when stressed, then back to playing once reassured.

Insecurely attached children show different patterns. Some ignore the returning parent. Act indifferent. Some cling desperately and can't be comforted. Some show confused, contradictory behaviours that don't quite make sense.

These patterns predict lifelong relationship dynamics, emotional regulation abilities, and mental health outcomes in humans.

So what does this have to do with your dog?

Hungarian researchers took Ainsworth's test and adapted it for dogs.

Fifty-one dogs and their owners entered an unfamiliar room. The researchers observed what happened through various separations and reunions: owner leaves, stranger enters, owner returns. All the same combinations Ainsworth used with children.

And what they found was amazing, scary, wonderful and worrying!

Dogs showed the exact same attachment patterns as children. The same behavioural categories. The same variations in how they responded to separation and reunion. The same use of the owner as a secure base for exploration.

This means that you dog's relationship to you is operating on the same fundamental attachment system that bonds all mammals to their caregivers.

When the guardian was present in the unfamiliar room, securely attached dogs explored confidently. They investigated the space, played with toys, checked out the corners. But they regularly checked back with their owner: visual contact, brief approaches, then back to exploring.

Their owner was a secure base. A safe harbour they could venture away from, knowing they could return.

When the guardian left and a stranger remained, these dogs showed clear signs of distress. They stopped exploring. They oriented toward the door. They waited.

But here's the key: when the guardian returned, these dogs went immediately to greet them. They made clear, enthusiastic contact. They sought physical closeness and interaction. And then, crucially, they were able to be comforted and return to exploring the environment.

That reunion behaviour is the signature of secure attachment. Distress during separation, immediate seeking of contact upon reunion, ability to be comforted, and return to normal exploration.

Some dogs barely seemed to notice when their guardian left. Just kept exploring, seemingly indifferent. When the guardian returned? 

Minimal greeting. They acted like their guardian's presence or absence wasn't particularly significant.

This is avoidant attachment. These dogs have learned their attachment figure isn't reliably available or responsive. 

So they've adapted by downregulating their attachment system, behaving as if they don't need comfort or connection.

It's not that they truly don't care. Their system has learned to suppress attachment-seeking behaviours because those behaviours haven't reliably led to comfort in the past.

Other dogs showed what researchers call ambivalent or resistant attachment. These dogs were extremely distressed by separation, but when the guardian returned, they couldn't be comforted. 

They sought contact but then resisted it. Wanted proximity but seemed unable to settle even when they got it.

It's as if their attachment system is stuck in overdrive. 

They desperately need their attachment figure but don't trust that the comfort will actually work. So they're caught in an anxious loop of seeking and rejecting simultaneously.

And some dogs showed disorganised attachment, the most concerning pattern.

 These dogs displayed contradictory, confused behaviours. Approaching and avoiding simultaneously. Freezing when the owner returned. Showing fear toward the person they're also seeking comfort from.

This pattern typically emerges when the attachment figure has been both the source of comfort and the source of fear. 

The dog's attachment system doesn't know how to respond. Approach the person who might provide comfort or avoid the person who might cause harm?

The researchers used statistical analysis to understand the underlying structure of these relationships.

They found three fundamental dimensions that describe the dog-human bond:

1. Anxiety: How stressed and uncertain the dog is about their guardian's availability and responsiveness. High anxiety means the dog constantly worries whether their guardian will be there when needed.
2. Acceptance: How comfortable the dog is with strangers and new situations when their guardian is present. This reflects how well the guardian functions as a secure base.
3. Attachment: The degree of proximity-seeking and contact-maintenance behaviours the dog shows toward the guardian.  How much they actively maintain closeness and seek interaction.

Every dog-human relationship exists somewhere in this three-dimensional space. 

Your dog might be high attachment but low anxiety (securely attached). 

Or high attachment and high anxiety (ambivalent). 

Or low attachment and low acceptance (avoidant).

These dimensions predict how your dog experiences the world, how they cope with stress, and what they need from you.

The researchers identified five distinct categories: 

securely attached dogs who used their guardian as a secure base and were comforted by reunion; anxiously attached dogs extremely distressed by separation who couldn't settle even when reunited; avoidantly attached dogs seemingly indifferent to their guardian's presence or absence; ambivalently attached dogs showing confused approach-avoidance behaviours; and disorganised dogs displaying contradictory responses. 

About 60% showed secure attachment. Age, gender, breed, and living conditions had no effect on attachment style. 

It's about the relationship itself, the history of interactions between this specific dog and this specific human. 

Which means attachment can be changed and healed.

Securely attached dogs explored freely when their guardian was present, using that reliable availability as a launching pad, whilst insecurely attached dogs either clung too tightly or couldn't derive confidence from their guardian's presence at all.

Watch what happens when you come home to learn your dog's attachment style: secure dogs greet enthusiastically then settle; anxious dogs greet frantically and can't settle; avoidant dogs barely greet you, having learned to suppress their attachment-seeking; ambivalent dogs show confusion, approaching and withdrawing simultaneously.

This reframes separation anxiety completely.

It's about insecure attachment where the dog hasn't internalised their guardian as a secure base that continues to exist when out of sight.

The intervention needs to focus on the quality of interactions when you're together. What makes this research profound is that the patterns are identical to those in human children and chimps bonded to human caregivers.

We're observing the same fundamental mammalian bonding system across species, which means your dog's bond to you isn't a cute imitation but the real thing.

If you have a rescue dog and are carrying out rehabilitation then their attachment will become more secure as they feel safer.

My next blog post will cover what canine attachment styles look like in real life. If you want to learn more about bond building with your dog, my eBook below will help you! 

Topál J, Miklósi A, Csányi V, Dóka A. Attachment behavior in dogs (Canis familiaris): a new application of Ainsworth's (1969) Strange Situation Test. J Comp Psychol. 1998 Sep;112(3):219-29. doi: 10.1037/0735-7036.112.3.219. PMID: 9770312.