Dog aggression remains both a public health concern, due to the physical and psychological trauma from bites, and a welfare issue for dogs themselves. Understanding how people interpret and respond to early signs of aggression is key to prevention, but ethically challenging to study in real life. To address this, Oxley and colleagues (2022) developed DAVE (Dog Assisted Virtual Environment), a virtual Labrador capable of displaying both aggressive and non-reactive behaviors.
In this pilot, sixteen university students explored virtual environments with either an aggressive or calm Labrador model. The aggressive behaviors were based on established canine ethology and expert input. Participants’ movements were tracked, measuring how close they approached the dog under each condition.
The results revealed that participants moved significantly closer to the non-reactive dog than to the aggressive dog (p ≤ 0.001; r = 0.8). Their descriptions of the aggressive dog often used motivational or emotional terms, suggesting they perceived the simulation as realistic. Importantly, the VR environment produced little simulator sickness and high presence scores, indicating strong immersion and believability.
This study demonstrates the potential of VR as a safe, controlled tool for researching human–dog interactions. Applications extend beyond research, including dog safety education for children and adults, as well as therapeutic uses such as treating dog phobias. By offering a risk-free setting, VR provides an innovative way to improve human understanding of canine behavior.
Source: Oxley, J., Meyer, G., Cant, I., Bellantuono, G., Butcher, M., Levers, A., & Westgarth, C. (2022). A pilot study investigating human behaviour towards DAVE (Dog Assisted Virtual Environment) and interpretation of non-reactive and aggressive behaviours during a virtual reality exploration task. PLoS ONE, 17.
