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Farmyard Animal or Best Friend? Exploring Predictors of Dog vs. Pig Pet Speciesism
| Contributor(s):: Sarah Gradidge, Magdalena Zawisza, Annelie J. Harvey, Daragh T. McDermott
Despite dogs’ and pigs’ shared similarities, previous research indicates people favor dogs over pigs (known as “pet speciesism”). While pet speciesism has been empirically sup-ported, little is known about its predictors. This gap in the literature is problematic as...
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First-Time Experience in Owning a Dog Guide by Older Adults with Vision Loss
| Contributor(s):: Kitsum Li, Jeffrey Kou, Yvonne Lam, Patricia Lyons, Susan Nguyen
Introduction: Dog guides were found to be effective in helping adults with vision loss navigate in the community and improve overall well-being. In spite of the vast amount of literature on pet therapy and dog companionship, limited study exists on older adult with vision loss experience...
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Evaluation Tools for Educational Programs at Zoos Victoria
| Contributor(s):: Nicole Marie Packard, Michael Robert Clark, Erin Marie McConnaghy, Brian Grant Peterson
Zoos Victoria recently introduced a new educational program, Education for Conservation (EfC), to teach visiting students about conservation practices. Our goal was to create a set of efficient tools to assess the effectiveness of EfC from the perspectives of Zoo educators, schoolteachers, and...
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Integrating Emotional Affect into Bear Viewing Management and Bear Safety Education
| Contributor(s):: John Nettles
The popularity of viewing wildlife, specifically brown bears (Ursus arctos), is increasing rapidly throughout North America, from Yellowstone National Park (NP) to Denali National Park. In addition, population distributions of both humans and brown bears are expanding, creating larger areas of...
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Non-Contact Vital Signs Monitoring of Dog and Cat Using a UWB Radar
| Contributor(s):: Pengfei Wang, Yangyang Ma, Fulai Liang, Yang Zhang, Xiao Yu, Zhao Li, Qiang An, Hao Lv, Jianqi Wang
As pets are considered members of the family, their health has received widespread attention. Since pets cannot talk and complain when they feel uncomfortable, monitoring vital signs becomes very helpful in disease detection, as well as observing their progression and response to treatment. In...
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Evidence of Pain, Stress, and Fear of Humans During Tail Docking and the Next Four Weeks in Piglets (Sus scrofa domesticus)
| Contributor(s):: Céline Tallet, Marine Rakotomahandry, Sabine Herlemont, Armelle Prunier
Tail docking is widely performed in pig farms to prevent tail biting. We investigated the consequences of this practice on behavioral indicators of pain and stress, and on the human-piglet relationship during lactation.Within 19 litters, piglets (1–3 days of age) were submitted on day 0...
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Uncontrolled Outdoor Access for Cats: An Assessment of Risks and Benefits
| Contributor(s):: Sarah M.L. Tan, Anastasia C. Stellato, Lee Niel
Uncontrolled outdoor access is associated with a number of welfare concerns for companion cats, including increased risks of disease and parasites, injury or death due to traffic, predation or ingestion of toxic substances, and getting permanently separated from their owner. In addition, cats...
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Effect of Handler Knowledge of the Detection Task on Canine Search Behavior and Performance
| Contributor(s):: Mallory T. DeChant, Cameron Ford, Nathaniel J. Hall
Detection dogs are commonly trained and tested under conditions in which the handler or the evaluator knows the true presence or absence of a target odor. Previous research has demonstrated that when handlers are deceived and led to believe that a target odor is present, more false alerts...
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Sustainable Whale-watching for the Philippines: A Bioeconomic Model of the Spinner Dolphin (Stenella Longirostris)
| Contributor(s):: Allison Jenny Santos
Whale-watching provides economic opportunities worldwide and particularly proliferates in developing countries, such as the Philippines. The sustainability of whale-watching is increasingly debated as these activities also negatively impact cetaceans through changes in behavior, communication,...
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The Effect of Boat Type on Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops trucatus) Behavior in the Mississippi Sound
| Contributor(s):: Maria Zapetis
Increases in oceanic shipping are a global phenomenon, and a leading cause of concern for marine animal welfare. While it may be difficult to assess the effect of boat traffic on all species in all contexts, it is vital to report anthropogenic impacts where longitudinal data is available, and...
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"Don't be so Modest, You're a Rat": Anthropomorphism, Social Class, and Renegotiation in Ratatouille and Bee Movie
| Contributor(s):: Reuben Dylan Fong
One of the common fantasy stories involving anthropomorphized nonhuman animals in animated children's films is of humans and animals discovering they can communicate as equals. The human-animal relationship in the premise of these films exemplifies the idea of questioning and renegotiating...
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Implications for Conservation of Collection of Mediterranean Spur-Thighed Tortoise as Pets in Morocco: Residents' Perceptions, Habits, and Knowledge
| Contributor(s):: Amalia Segura, Miguel Delibes-Mateos, Pelayo Acevedo
The trading and collection of wild animals as pets may be cause for concern regarding animal welfare and species conservation. These concerns can be exemplified by Mediterranean spur-thighed tortoise (Testudo graeca), a long-living species whose use as pets is long established. The human...
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Effect of Age, Breed, and Sex on the Health-Related Quality of Life of Owner Assessed Healthy Dogs
| Contributor(s):: Susan Rodger, E Marian Scott, Andrea Nolan, Andrea K Wright, Jacqueline Reid
Using an app, this exploratory study generated information on HRQL in a large cohort of dogs deemed healthy according to the owner. It forms the basis for further studies investigating the natural history of HRQL of dogs to inform the interpretation of interventional studies, but highlights the...
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Therapeutic Benefits of Certified Canines for Veterans with War-Related Trauma Disorders
| Contributor(s):: Lauren Smith
Veterans and their service dogs share a special relationship that is not only a friendship but a working relationship as well. They each give each other something that they cannot get on their own. The purpose of this thesis is to determine the relationship between veterans and their service...
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Smoky Mountain Service Dogs
The Smoky Mountain Service Dogs mission is to enhance the physical and psychological quality of life for wounded Veterans by providing custom-trained mobility assistance service dogs.
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Goats distinguish between positive and negative emotion-linked vocalisations
| Contributor(s):: Luigi Baciadonna, Elodie F. Briefer, Livio Favaro, Alan G. McElligott
Background Evidence from humans suggests that the expression of emotions can regulate social interactions and promote coordination within a group. Despite its evolutionary importance, social communication of emotions in non-human animals is still not well understood. Here, we combine...
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Canadian Intervention and Assistance Dogs (CIAD)
Welcome to CIAD—Canadian Intervention and Assistance Dogs. We are an incorporated not-for-profit society that operates following the Societies Act of Nova Scotia. In Gaelic, CIAD means “primary” or “first”. In 2016, we focused on the needs of first...
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Dogs distinguish human intentional and unintentional action
| Contributor(s):: Britta Schünemann, Judith Keller, Hannes Rakoczy, Tanya Behne, Juliane Bräuer
When dogs interact with humans, they often show appropriate reactions to human intentional action. But it is unclear from these everyday observations whether the dogs simply respond to the action outcomes or whether they are able to discriminate between different categories of actions. Are dogs...
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No Pets Allowed: Discrimination, Homelessness, and Pet Ownership
| Contributor(s):: Ruby Aliment, Sara Rankin (editor), Kaya Lurie (editor)
This brief is the first to address the particular challenges faced by pet owners experiencing homelessness, particularly as they relate to treatment by society at large, law enforcement practices, and access to housing and services. Researchers estimate that up to 25 percent of people...
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Dogs' Sociability, Owners' Neuroticism and Attachment Style to Pets as Predictors of Dog Aggression
| Contributor(s):: Elena Gobbo, Manja Zupan
A dog’s aggressive behavior is influenced by external and internal factors, including its psychological profile. In this study, dogs’ and owners’ personalities and the owners’ attachment style to their dogs were identified and associated with owner-reported dog...
