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The Experience of Social Workers Who Utilize Therapy Dogs in Practice
| Contributor(s):: Kathryn Jochems
Animal assisted therapy, which incorporates animals into structured therapeutic interventions, and its use within social work has been shown to increase social interactions, communication, and the overall health and safety of clients (Nimer & Lundahl, 2007). However, there is a gap in the...
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Fake Service Dogs: Leading by Example
| Contributor(s):: Joshua Ferguson
This qualitative research examines public awareness pertaining to the protocols surrounding service dogs and their handlers, known collectively as the service team. The use of service dogs has been on the increase as more people discover the benefits provided by service dogs. The increase in...
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Canine-Assisted Therapy (CAT): A nurse-initiated program to reduce patients' perception of pain and anxiety at a critical access hospital
| Contributor(s):: Victoria McCue, Molly Vlach, Sherry Stathers, Clair Hefner, Theresa Worden, Julie Erickson
Background/Purpose: The use of animals to promote or improve human health and wellbeing has a long history. However, it is yet to be recognized and accepted as either a complementary therapy or integrated into mainstream healthcare. Even though studies have reported the benefits of...
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The effect of the presence and familiarity of a dog on people's performance of a stressful task
| Contributor(s):: Lyn Brown
The purpose of the current study was to test whether the familiarity of a dog affects a person’s stress and task performance on a stressful task. Pets can improve people’s health mentally, physically, and socially. Dogs can lower people’s stress. This stress-reduction effect...
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PAWS-abilities
| Contributor(s):: Taylor Davis, Madelyn Day, Kendall DuLaney, Jordanne Howard, Cierra Monroe, Jordan Tapp
PAWS-abilities is our non-profit business idea. Our goal for PAWS-abilities is to provide a safe environment for local stray dogs and rehabilitate them to become service or therapy dogs in the future. The trainers will be local inmates who have passed a strict screening process to ensure the...
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The Bridge River Dogs: Interpreting aDNA and Stable Isotope Analysis Collected From Dog Remains
| Contributor(s):: Emilia Tifental
Excavations at the Bridge River site have been on-going since 2003, increasing our understanding of the communities that inhabited the Middle Fraser Canyon, British Columbia, over 1,000 years ago. The most recent excavation at Housepit 54 in the summer of 2014 supplied further data regarding...
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Animal-Assisted Therapy for Military Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: An Investigation on the Positive Effects of Attachment and Affiliation Behaviors
| Contributor(s):: Sara Miele
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops in people who have experienced a traumatic event (nimh.nih.gov, 2016). Because PTSD is a chronic disorder, it is associated with impaired quality of life (Stern et al., 2013). A specific population at high risk for developing PTSD is military...
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What Makes a Good Therapy Dog? Identifying Factors Associated with Calm Behavior in Therapy Dogs
| Contributor(s):: Kristen Cunningham, Zachary L. Darwish, Rosemary Strasser
Dogs offer a variety of benefits to society, including the use of therapy dogs to provide therapeutic and physiological benefits, enhancing the lives of a wide range of recipients. Unlike service or emotional support animals, therapy dogs provide support to a multitude of individuals, often in...
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The Effects of Canine Assisted Therapy on Emotionally Stressed Undergraduate College Students: A Systematic Review
| Contributor(s):: Mackenzie Hansen
Objective: This systematic review was conducted to review how canine assisted therapy affects emotional stress in undergraduate college students. Methods: Articles were screened on CINAHL and PubMed databases for relationship between canine assisted therapy intervention and emotional stress...
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The Truth about Humans: The Decision to Adopt Dogs & Cats
| Contributor(s):: Leann Stadtlander
Millions of dogs and cats are adopted from animal shelters every year, however, little is known about why specific animals are adopted. This study examines the qualitative comments given by adopters of cats and dogs for selecting specific animals. Differences between the species and insights...
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Dogs: A Prescription for Health Issues?
| Contributor(s):: Denise Magallon
The human-‐animal bond has been seen throughout many generations. Pet owners, especially those who own dogs, are known to live a different lifestyle than non-‐pet owners. However, the individuals who can receive the most benefits from dogs are those with certain psychological and...
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Does experience with animals improve toddlers' understanding of others' sound perception?
| Contributor(s):: Rachelle Stover
Introduction: Much research has examined what children understand about others’ visual perception. For instance, 2-year-olds can determine when an object is hidden from another’s viewpoint (Flavell, 1992). Less is known about children’s understanding of other’s auditory...
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Offender outcomes of training dogs in prison : the Puppies for Parole program
| Contributor(s):: Dorothea V. Megarani, Rebecca A. Johnson, George Lombardi, Steven Osterlind, Hayley D. Yaglom, Nicole L. Haarman, Elliot Cade
"Puppies for Parole" is a rehabilitation program based on human-animal interaction (HAI) in the prison. Puppies for Parole aims to reduce the number of homeless canines by producing loving, obedient, and adoptable dogs. Inmates may gain skills to support successful rehabilitation and...
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Shelter Dog Behavior Improvement: Dog Walking as Enrichment
| Contributor(s):: Rebecca A Johnson, Charlotte McKenney, Sandra McCune
Background: Several million dogs are euthanized in animal shelters annually after multiple relinquishment reasons (Scarlett, 2002; Salman, 1998; New, 2000 & Kass, 2001). Gains in pet adoptions are happening via shelter enrichment programs. We hypothesized that shelter dogs participating in a...
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Walk A Hound, Lose A Pound, & Stay Fit for Seniors
| Contributor(s):: Rebecca Ann Johnson, Charlotte McKenney, Sandra McCune
Background: Obesity rates in older adults are linked with the national problem of limited physical activity (PA), resulting in chronic illness. Obesity-related illness and functional loss require innovative interventions. Older adult dog walkers maintained physical functioning over a 3 year...
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Are Companion Animals the Secret to Good Health?
| Contributor(s):: Bradley Smith, Petra Bywood
People keep pets for companionship, recreation and protection rather than for the specific purpose of enhancing health. However, a considerable body of literature supports the idea that companion animals can improve overall quality of life, including physical, social and psychological health, yet...
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Animal assisted adapted physical activity for children with Cerebral Palsy
| Contributor(s):: Nicole Johnson, Amanda Tepfer, Wendy Baltzer, Megan MacDonald
Cerebral Palsy is a muscle movement disorder caused by an insult to the immature developing brain before birth. Children with Cerebral Palsy generally have impaired movement, exaggerated joints, floppiness or rigidity of limbs and torso, abnormal posture, involuntary movement, and unsteady...
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Genetic Canine Agression
| Contributor(s):: Isabella O\'Toole
Canine aggression can pose a serious concern for public and animal welfare. Most of what we know about aggression comes from bite statistics, expert opinions and breed-specific aggressiveness. These sources can often be misleading due to biases toward large or powerful breeds. In this review, I...
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Animal-Assisted Therapy in Long-Term Care: A Review of the Literature
| Contributor(s):: Jennifer Goodnow, Shannon Tarbox, Erin Zamore, Victoria Zimmerman
Patients residing in long-term care facilities face many changes and challenges. Many seniors have grown up with pets as part of their daily lives, and animals have provided them with companionship as they age. The purpose of this literature review is to assess the state of the science related to...
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Could the inclusion of dogs and horses in a psychodynamic psychotherapy provide for a more optimal treatment for patients with personality disorders?
| Contributor(s):: Geza Kovacs
