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Considering Family Dog Attachment Bonds: Do Dog-Parent Attachments Predict Dog-Child Attachment Outcomes in Animal-Assisted Interventions?
Contributor(s):: Wanser, S. H., Simpson, A. C., MacDonald, M., Udell, M. A. R.
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“A Very Photogenic Cat”: Personhood, Social Status, and Online Cat Photo Sharing
Contributor(s):: Austin, Jessica, Irvine, Leslie
This study explores how domestic cats and their connections to humans are represented in a modern photo-sharing context through content analysis of Reddit, a popular social media website. By examining the photos that cat owners share online, as well as the language that accompanies the photos, we...
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Pet Attachment in the Context of Family Conflict
Contributor(s):: Applebaum, Jennifer W., Zsembik, Barbara A.
Previous research shows that companion animals can have a positive effect on their owner’s health and may also serve as a buffer to stress. Despite this, few studies have investigated the role of the pet in adverse or tumultuous family circumstances. In this study, we explored whether reported...
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Keeping Lily Safe: An Autoethnographic Exploration of Human–Animal Attachment during Adversity
| Contributor(s):: Catherine Lee
This article is an autoethnographic examination of my experiences as a pet owner during a particularly challenging time in my life. Beginning with a summary of a critical incident, it shows the way in which fears for the safety of my pet cat, Lily, and my relationship with her impacted my...
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A Comparison of Zoo Animal Behavior in the Presence of Familiar and Unfamiliar People
| Contributor(s):: Martin, Rosemary Anne, Melfi, Vicky
As recorded in domestic nonhuman animals, regular interactions between animals in zoos and keepers and the resulting relationship formed (human–animal relationship [HAR]) are likely to influence the animals' behaviors with associated welfare consequences. HAR formation requires that zoo animals...
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Pet Dogs Improve Family Functioning and Reduce Anxiety in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
| Contributor(s):: Wright, Hannah, Hall, Sophie, Hames, Annette, Hardiman, Jessica, Mills, Richard, Team, Paws Project, Mills, Daniel
There is increasing evidence to suggest that dogs are beneficial for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in therapy sessions, and anecdotal reports suggest that dogs may have wider benefits, in a family setting. This study investigated the effect of dog ownership on family functioning...
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Empathy-Related Ratings to Still Images of Human and Nonhuman Animal Groups in Negative Contexts Graded for Phylogenetic Similarity
| Contributor(s):: Ingham, H. Rae Westbury, Neumann, David L., Waters, Allison M.
Research using film stimuli has shown that the strength of empathy-related responses toward nonhuman animals is related to the amount of phylogenetic similarity of the animals to humans. The present study aimed to develop and validate a new set of still images depicting humans and nonhuman...
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Exploring Synchronicity in the Heart Rates of Familiar and Unfamiliar Pairs of Horses and Humans Undertaking an In-Hand Task
| Contributor(s):: Hockenhull, Jo, Young, Tamsin J., Redgate, Sarah E., Birke, Lynda
Physiological responses that occur in horses and humans during their interactions, on the ground and during ridden work, have been investigated in a number of studies with some conflicting results. These suggest that in some situations emotional state may be transferred from humans to horses and...
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Social learning of feeding behaviour in pigs: Effects of neophobia and familiarity with the demonstrator conspecific
| Contributor(s):: Figueroa, Jaime, Solà-Oriol, David, Manteca, Xavier, Pérez, José Francisco
Social interactions facilitate animals learning of new features of their environment minimizing a trial and error process. It has been observed in some species that food cues can be acquired by one individual (the observer) from an animal model (demonstrator) due to social learning. Three...
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More than noise?—Field investigations of intraspecific acoustic communication in dogs (Canis familiaris)
| Contributor(s):: Péter, Pongrácz, Éva, Szabó, Anna, Kis, András, Péter, Ádám, Miklósi
Besides being a widely investigated behavioural phenomenon, barks of dogs often represent a factor of nuisance for people. Although some argue that dog barking has no or only minimal communicative function, it was shown recently that these acoustic signals carry various information that humans...
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Winter housing conditions of cows of the Hérens breed do not influence fighting but modulate spacing behaviour on alpine pastures
| Contributor(s):: Castro, Isabelle M. L., Gygax, Lorenz, Wechsler, Beat, Hauser, Rudolf
Cows of the Hérens breed are typically kept in small herds and three types of winter housing conditions feature in practical application: tie-barns with minimal winter outdoor exercise, this being taken singly or in pairs (“minimal exercise”), tie-barns with daily exercise as a complete herd...
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Shelter use of familiar and unfamiliar groups of juvenile European catfish Silurus glanis
| Contributor(s):: Slavík, Ondřej, Maciak, Matúš, Horký, Pavel
Within aquaculture systems, shelters are often used to reduce cannibalism, minimise energy consumption, accelerate the start of exogenous feeding, support growth, and improve survival and welfare. However, stronger competition for shelters in aquaculture systems relative to that under wild...
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The effect of familiarity on behaviour of kennel housed dogs during interactions with humans
| Contributor(s):: Pullen, Anne J., Merrill, Ralph J. N., Bradshaw, John W. S.
Human contact appears to be a highly valued resource for domestic dogs but it is unclear what type of human contact they prefer and what factors affect individual differences in such preferences. This study assessed the effect of familiarity of the human on duration of interaction by two samples...
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Clustered environmental enrichments induce more aggression and stereotypic behaviour than do dispersed enrichments in female mice
| Contributor(s):: Akre, Anne Kathrine, Bakken, Morten, Hovland, Anne Lene, Palme, Rupert, Mason, Georgia
Adding environmental enrichments to a previously resource-poor cage or enclosure can sometimes cause elevated aggression in socially housed animals, due to competition over the provided resources. Here, using female C57BL/6J mice, we investigated whether the way that environmental enrichments are...
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Improved Wellbeing for Both Caretakers and Users from A Zoo-Related Nature Based Intervention-A Study at Nordens Ark Zoo, Sweden
| Contributor(s):: Sahlin, E., Johansson, B., Karlsson, P. O., Loberg, J., Niklasson, M., Grahn, P.
Nature-based interventions have been proposed to promote physical and mental health and give stress reduction. Little attention has been given to the potential of zoos for human health and wellbeing. A disadvantaged group in Sweden regarding access to nature are individuals with disabilities who...
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Fleeing with Fido: an Analysis of What Canadian Domestic Violence Shelters Are Communicating Via their Websites about Leaving an Abusive Relationship when Pets Are Involved
| Contributor(s):: Gray, Allison, Barrett, Betty Jo, Fitzgerald, Amy, Peirone, Amy
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Evaluating a supported nature play programme, parents’ perspectives
| Contributor(s):: Ward, Tanya, Goldingay, Sophie, Parson, Judi
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Effects of familiarity on individual growth and feeding behaviour of European seabass Dicentrarchus labrax
| Contributor(s):: Batzina, Alkisti, Drossos, Ioannis-Panagiotis, Karakatsouli, Nafsika
Available literature indicates that fish are able to recognize familiar conspecifics and that familiarity may offer important benefits (e.g. more stable social environment, improved foraging behavior, growth, survival). In the practice of intensive rearing of European seabass Dicentrarchus labrax...
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Factors affecting dog jumping on people
| Contributor(s):: Rezac, Petr, Koru, Eva, Havlicek, Zdenek, Pospisilova, Dagmar
Jumping on people is one of the most frequent problems in dogs. However, little is known about the factors influencing this behavior. The aim of the study was to assess whether in some period of their life the dogs jumped on people in five different contexts (on their household members entering...
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Effectiveness of verbal and gestural signals and familiarity with signal-senders on the performance of working dogs
| Contributor(s):: Scandurra, Anna, Alterisio, Alessandra, Marinelli, Lieta, Mongillo, Paolo, Semin, Gün Refik, D’Aniello, Biagio
We assessed how highly trained dogs respond to gestural versus verbal signals when their handlers or an unfamiliar person asked them to perform an obedience task. Dogs were requested to perform four different actions (“Sit”, “Down”, “Stay” and “Come”) upon receiving congruent (only gestural or...
