Modelling personality, plasticity and predictability in shelter dogs

Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

Behavioural assessments of shelter dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) typically comprise standardized test batteries conducted at one time point, but test batteries have shown inconsistent predictive validity. Longitudinal behavioural assessments offer an alternative. We modelled longitudinal...

Nasally-Administered Oxytocin Has Limited Effects on Owner-Directed Attachment Behavior in Pet Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)

Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

The present study explored the effects of intranasal oxytocin, a naturally occurring hormone, on the behavior of pet dogs during an attachment test. Each dog participated in two testing sessions. On one visit saline was administered nasally, and on another, oxytocin was administered nasally. For...

Ridin' High

Organizations | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

Ridin' High, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization offering recreational and therapeutic horseback riding to children and adults with disabilities. We are in our 25th year of operation. Ridin' High is affiliated with PATH International (Professional Association of Therapeutic...

Paws and Think, Inc.

Organizations | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

Paws and Think, Inc. was founded in 2001 as a 501(c)(3) organization to bring the benefits off the human-animal bond to both people and dogs.  Our Mission is Improving lives through the power of the human-dog connection.  We do this through our Youth-Canine programs, helping at-risk or...

Interspecies Communication in Homo Sapiens and Canis Lupis Familiaris: A Meta Analysis

Theses | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

Interspecies communication is a fundamental aspect of many creatures. Knowing what another animal is saying could not only prove interesting, it could quite literally save a life. For humans, human-canine communication is arguably the most prevalent form of interspecies communication, and is...

Dogs in classrooms? At these private schools, pets are all over the place.

Newspaper Articles | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

Therapy dogs help calm people under stress

Newspaper Articles | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

The effect of a pet's presence upon anxiety during a simulated clinical interview

Theses | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

Recognizing the importance of evolutionary parallels between humans and other animals, researchers make use of animals to better the understanding of people in various fields of study, such as history, ecology, medicine, psychology, and sociology (Levinson, 1978). Boris Levinson (1962) was an...

Understanding the Value of Dog Facilitated Psychotherapy, What Theory Emerges?

Theses | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

Animal Assisted Therapy is a field that is growing substantially with animals purported to be a panacea from everything from autism to prisoner reform. In many countries they are incorporated into psychotherapy process. The researcher wanted to explore if this is a valid form of practice, the...

The influence of dog ownership on objective measures of free-living physical activity and sedentary behaviour in community-dwelling older adults: a longitudinal case-controlled study

Journal Articles | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

Background There is some evidence to suggest that dog ownership may improve physical activity (PA) among older adults, but to date, studies examining this, have either depended on self-report or incomplete datasets due to the type of activity monitor used to record physical activity....

Determinants of the Level of Care Provided for Various Types and Sizes of Dogs in New Providence, The Bahamas

Journal Articles | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

This paper reports the level of care offered 424 dogs, classified as small dogs, large dogs, pit bulls and potcakes (the colloquial name for the local mongrel) in New Providence, The Bahamas. Levels of care that meet the legal minimum –food water and shelter– as well as care...

I Walk My Dog Because It Makes Me Happy: A Qualitative Study to Understand Why Dogs Motivate Walking and Improved Health

Journal Articles | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

Dog walking is a popular everyday physical activity. Dog owners are generally more active than non-owners, but some rarely walk with their dog. The strength of the dog–owner relationship is known to be correlated with dog walking, and this qualitative study investigates why. Twenty-six...

Influence of low stress handling during clinical visit on physiological and behavioural indicators in adult dogs: a preliminary study

Journal Articles | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

Low stress handling techniques or “Fear Free principles” in veterinary clinics are becoming an important research area aimed at improving small animal welfare, considering that the majority of dogs who undergo clinical examinations exhibit fear or anxiety signs. Objective of this...

Moving With Pets

Websites | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

When you go new places® every member of your family should be at ease. Cats, dogs and other animals are especially sensitive to moving. The secret to pet relocation is planning. Follow these pointers and ask your Atlas Agent if you have questions. This guide will help prepare you to move...

Playing for sheep stations : a discourse analysis of wild dog management and control policy in New South Wales, Australia

Theses | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

This thesis challenges the constitutive and taken-for-granted assumptions of the current dominant administrative rationalist discourse of wild dog management and control (WMDC) in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It asks: To what extent can conflicts over WDMC in NSW be understood in terms of...

Can you spare 15 min? The measurable positive impact of a 15-min petting session on shelter dog well-being

Journal Articles | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

It is well established that human interaction has positive effects on shelter dogs. This work set out to answer the question: “Does one 15-min petting session make a difference for shelter dogs?” Fifty-five dogs were subject to one 15-min petting session with one of five unfamiliar...

Paws From The Heart

Organizations | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

We are a compassionate and supportive 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to bringing qualified and specialty trained pet therapy dog teams into local communities to deliver various outreach programs while  promoting  health, happiness and healing to those in need.  We...

Training Technologies. Science, Humans and Dogs in the Age of Positive Dog Training

Journal Articles | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

The practices of dog training influence the lives of numerous dogs and dog owners, but have not received much academic attention in terms of empirical studies. Both humans and dogs are shaped through these practices, but as the conditions are partly determined by already established networks,...

The Processing of Human Emotional Faces by Pet and Lab Dogs: Evidence for Lateralization and Experience Effects

Journal Articles | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

From all non-human animals dogs are very likely the best decoders of human behavior. In addition to a high sensitivity to human attentive status and to ostensive cues, they are able to distinguish between individual human faces and even between human facial expressions. However, so far little...

Parent perceptions of the quality of life of pet dogs living with neuro-typically developing and neuro-atypically developing children: An exploratory study

Journal Articles | Contributor(s): Diane Lefebvre, Claire Diederich, Madeleine Delcourt, Jean-Marie Giffroy

There is growing scientific and societal recognition of the role that pet dogs can play in healthy development of children; both those who are neuro-typically developing and those who live with a neuro-developmental disorder, such as autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. However,...