Animal Assisted Psychotherapy: An Exploration of the Adult Client's Experience of Individual Psychotherapy with the Assistance of a Dog

Contributor(s): Hannah Allen-Miller

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Encountering the Other: An Interdisciplinary Inquiry into Horse/Human Interaction

Theses | Contributor(s): Hana Gartner, Marcy Wilhelm-South

This thesis asks how and why a serendipitous and spontaneous personal encounter with a being from another species created an ongoing bond. Through the lens of three intersecting disciplines: environmental studies, animal behaviour and health science, I explore how the horse, over time, has gone...

The Influence of Animal-Assisted Psychotherapy on the Establishment of the Therapeutic Alliance with Maltreated Children in Residential Care

Theses | Contributor(s): Nancy Parish-Plass

Background: A large proportion of maltreated children carry their experiences as secrets into adulthood, leading to the continuation of the maltreatment, developmental trauma, and prevention of treatment. Many undiscovered maltreated children are referred to therapy due to behavioral and...

Hippotherapy as a modality in rehabilitation

Theses | Contributor(s): H. Rebecca Adams, Peggy Mohr (adviser)

Hippotherapy is fast becoming a treatment option for today's therapists. Recent efforts in rehabilitation have focused on emphasizing the "multidisciplinary team" approach, involving occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language pathologists as well as including...

The effects of hippotherapy in children and adolescents with autism : a systematic review

Theses | Contributor(s): Emily Layne Ybarbo

The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate the effectiveness of hippotherapy, also known as horse- or equine-assisted therapy, for improving the socialization and communication behaviors of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The PubMed research database was...

The effect of therapy dogs on children in a learning environment

Theses | Contributor(s): Kimberly Ann Sheckler, Roberta DiHoff (adviser)

Having a dog in school can seem exciting for many students, but can these furry companions actually help students attain higher levels of academic success? The benefits of therapy dogs in an educational setting can be seen in many research studies. Dogs in the classroom can be used to calm...

Implementation of an Animal Assisted Activity Program into a Rural Long-Term Care Facility to Increase the Perceived Quality of Life of Residents

Theses | Contributor(s): Vonnie Pattison, Patricia Cullen (adviser)

Older people who have moved from familiar home surroundings to institutionalized facilities could find that the institutions will put restrictions on their personal belongings, possessions, loved ones, and pets. Loneliness and depression are common in long-term care facilities (Banks &...

Evaluating the physical welfare of dogs in commercial breeding facilities in the United States

Theses | Contributor(s): Moriah J. Hurt, Candace Croney (adviser)

Despite high levels of public concern, the state of commercial breeding (CB) dog welfare is largely unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize the physical welfare of dogs in CB facilities and their environment in Indiana. This study specifically aimed 1) to characterize dog foot...

The impact of tickling rats on human-animal interactions and rat welfare

Theses | Contributor(s): Megan Renee LaFollette, Brianna N Gaskill (adviser)

Rats initially fear humans which can lead to negative affect, poor welfare, and difficult handling. Also, modeling and measuring positive affect states in rats can pose an additional challenge. Heterospecific play, or “tickling,” is a handling habituation technique that mimics rat...

Show Horse Welfare

Theses | Contributor(s): Melissa A. Voigt, Colleen Brady

In recent years there has been an increase in the public's attention to situations where trainers, owners, and handlers have compromised the well-being of show horses for the sake of winning. These situations may be due to training negligence or naivety of individuals working with the horse....

Humane education: the effects of animals in the classroom on children's empathy in Japanese elementary schools

Theses | Contributor(s): Mika Maruyama, Dalton Miller-Jones (adviser)

Although humane education, promoting children's kindness toward animals, has been evaluated as a factor influencing children's kindness toward humans later in their life, the effect of a classroom pet hasn't been well studied. The current study investigated the influence of...

Determining the Effect of Visitor Group Size and Other Variables on the Behavior of Orangutans at the Oregon Zoo as a Measure of Welfare

Theses | Contributor(s): Katie Osborn, Kaytlynn Fyock, Randy Zelick (adviser)

The Oregon Zoo is home to many exotic animals, including Bornean and Sumatran orangutans. They live in a relatively new naturalistic exhibit and are subject to large volumes of visitor traffic throughout the day. This is a pilot study to determine the variables and details necessary to conduct a...

GI Zoonoses in Companion Pets of the Homeless : the Effects of Environment and Behavior on the Prevalence of GI Parasites, and the Role of Veterinarians in Public Health Education

Theses | Contributor(s): Matthew Edwards, Luis Ruedas (adviser)

Veterinarians are the front-line in the world of pet-health and zoonoses which means they are also at the front-line of human health and have an important role of educating clients on behaviors that would both reduce the risk of human and pet contracting a disease. In this study we collected 85...

A seroepidemiological study of canine zoonoses among persons occupationally exposed to dogs

Theses | Contributor(s): Whitney Sue Krueger, Tara C. Smith (adviser)

Zoonotic diseases continue to emerge and threaten both human and animal health. Overcrowded shelters and breeding kennels create the perfect environment for amplified infectious disease transmission among dogs and present a critical opportunity for zoonotic pathogens to emerge and threaten...

Coyotes on the Web: Understanding Human-Coyote Interaction and Online Education Using Citizen Science

Theses | Contributor(s): Zuriel Anne Rasmussen, Barbara Brower (adviser)

Coyote (Canis latrans) numbers are increasing in urban areas, leading to more frequent human-coyote interactions. Rarely, and particularly when coyotes have become habituated to humans, conflicts occur. Effective education about urban coyotes and how to prevent habituation reduces conflict....

An evaluation of perceptions of total quality management (TQM) livestock practices of Iowa 4-H' ers who received new instructional materials

Theses | Contributor(s): Mukiri wa Githendu, Julie A. Gamon (adviser)

The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions of 4-H youth regarding the total quality management of their livestock projects and the production of safe food before and after they received the new Total Quality Management (TQM) Curriculum for Youth Producers;The sample consisted of 800...

Cats and Dogs: The Development of the Household Pet through Symbolic Interpretations and Social Practices in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Theses | Contributor(s): Lindsey Nicole Blair, Christopher Roy (adviser)

Cats and dogs are perhaps the most ubiquitous and consistently represented animals throughout documented human history. Forms of the respective species have roamed the earth for millions of years; however, cats and dogs have held different societal positions ranging from exalted deities to...

Animal people

Theses | Contributor(s): Meghan Ann Brown, Debra Marquart (adviser)

Imagine you’re at the zoo, standing in front of an enclosure that contains a magnificent lion. You gaze into his lantern-yellow eyes and he stares back at you. What do you see? If you’re like most people, your answer may be simply, a lion. You may be humbled in the presence of a...

Queering the species divide

Theses | Contributor(s): Corinne Ryan Teed, Anita Jung (adviser)

Potential alliances between queers and animals populate queer scholarship, while dominant culture has relegated both groups to similar sites of subjugation and abjection. My work presents utopic visions crafted from these shared sites of marginalization and asks how they can enable new...

An Examination of the Cost-Benefit Ratio of Raising Guide Dog Puppies

Theses | Contributor(s): Whitney Vail, Genevieve L. Y. Arnaut PhD PsyD (adviser), Michel Hersen PhD ABPP (adviser)

This survey study examined the ratio of costs versus benefits for raising guide dog puppies, as well as whether participating in this volunteer program may be considered an altruistic act. One hundred and forty-nine male and female Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc. puppy raisers (ages 12 to 69)...