When Perception Meets Reality: Owner Accuracy in Assessing Dog Body Condition

Body condition is a key indicator of animal welfare, with dog owners acting as the primary assessors through their daily interactions with their pets. Understanding how owners perceive their dogs’ nutritional status is essential for preventing and managing body condition imbalances.

The present study investigated perceptual discrepancies in the evaluation of canine body condition between dog owners and experts, specifically a veterinarian and a university student in a program of animal protection and welfare. Two established scales for assessing body condition—the 5-point and 9-point Body Condition Score (BCS) scales—were employed to compare assessment consistency and explore factors influencing scoring accuracy. A total of 92 dogs and their owners participated. Each dog was independently evaluated by three assessors, and differences in scoring were analyzed in relation to owner characteristics (sex, age, experience with dog ownership, and level of physical activity) and dog attributes (age, sex, breed, coat length, activity level, and health status).

The findings revealed that owners frequently misjudged their dogs’ body condition. The weakest agreement, based on Spearman’s correlation, was observed between owners and veterinarians (5-point scale: r_S = 0.5693; p < 0.01). Owner sex, age, physical activity, and ownership experience had no statistically significant influence on BCS accuracy (p > 0.05), though a tendency toward underestimation was evident among inexperienced, younger, and older owners. Most dog-related variables did not significantly affect the results, except coat length. Owners of short-haired dogs showed significantly stronger agreement with veterinarians on the 5-point scale (p < 0.01), while long-haired dogs were more often overestimated (p < 0.05). The effect of coat length was not significant on the 9-point scale (p > 0.05). Overall, evaluations made using the 9-point scale were more accurate.

These results emphasize the need to improve owner awareness and education regarding body condition assessment and maintaining optimal health in dogs.