Animal Studies Commons^™

“My Dog Needs A Job”: Identifying The Motivations Of Therapy Animal Volunteers, Jean Kirnan, Anna Ciarrocca, Matthew Malloy, Shawne Hoehne, Grace Norris, Marc Nuzzo

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

Volunteers provide billions of hours in free labor annually and are essential for the success of many organizations. Understanding who volunteers as well as the motivating factors that attract and retain volunteers is critical. This study explored the motivations of therapy animal volunteers (TAVs) identifying commonality with general volunteerism as well as unique motivators. Respondents were 748 TAVs with Pet Partners who completed an online survey. The Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) was used to allow comparisons to prior research. Supplemental items specific to animal handler motivation were added to the 30 VFI items. Additionally, participants responded to an open-ended question …

“There’S A Connection That Is Just Beyond Words”: A Qualitative Study Of Therapy Dogs In A Child Trauma Assessment Center, Angela M. Moe

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

The utilization of animal-assisted interventions with trauma survivors is a growing field of practice and research. This study explored staff perceptions of the impact of therapy dogs in comprehensive neurodevelopmental assessments of children who have experienced significant maltreatment. Such victimization causes devastating and long-term consequences across physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral domains. Trauma assessments have been used as a means of understanding the impacts of maltreatment and in guiding treatment. Following a go-along qualitative approach, the study occurred over 16 months wherein experienced therapy dogs were incorporated into assessments of 323 children. Data were collected through field interviews and participant …

Impact Of Equine Interaction During Psychotherapy On Anxiety And Depression For Residential Treatment Program Patients Experiencing Substance Withdrawal, Molly M. Friend, Molly C. Nicodemus, Clay Cavinder, Caleb Lemley, Pauline Prince, Katherine A. Cagle-Holtcamp, Rebecca M. Swanson

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

As incidences of substance use disorders (SUD) increase in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need for more effective treatment approaches. Further, treatment approaches currently available struggle to retain patients during the period of substance withdrawal in early treatment due to patients’ withdrawal symptoms including increased feelings of anxiety and depression. Withdrawal symptoms have been linked to dysregulated cortisol concentrations present in this period. Psychotherapy incorporating equine interaction (PIE) has emerged in other populations as a treatment that decreases cortisol concentrations and improves treatment retention. The present study investigated the impact of 4 weeks of PIE on …

“Here, Kitty, Kitty.” Community Perceptions Of Free-Roaming Cats: A Northern Canadian Case Study, Annie Booth, Ken Otter

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

Free-roaming domestic cats (Felis catus) create controversy, due to their tendency to invade neighbors’ gardens, hunt wildlife, and create disturbances. Municipal governments are often under pressure to address concerns regarding free-roaming cats. As approximately 28% of the 8.8 million cats owned in Canada free-roam (are allowed outside unsupervised and unconstrained), understanding owner rationales for letting the cat out is important for officials tasked with addressing public concerns. In 2019, we studied attitudes toward cats within a north-central British Columbia, Canada, city. The rationales cat owners use to justify free-roaming, as well as their perceptions about the risks and …

Impact Of Covid-19 On Service Dog Organizations, Danny Benbassat, Abigail Konopasky, Michael Fox

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

The 2019 coronavirus pandemic led to federal, state, and local measures that paralyzed businesses across the nation. Among them were behavioral and mental health nonprofit organizations. The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of the pandemic on nonprofit programs that train and place service dogs with veterans/service members. Six service dog managers completed eight reflection probe questionnaires and participated in three focus groups. This study found that facility shutdown, businesses shutdown, and social distancing resulted in a training bottleneck for both canines and humans. These primary challenges created secondary and tertiary challenges that mirror and lend support …

The Covid Whirlwind On The Veterinary World: End-Of-Life Care And Euthanasia During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Elizabeth Chalmers, Paula Gerstenblatt, River Hodgdon

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

Veterinary providers experience job-specific psychological stress from their dual role in both providing medical care to pets and supporting pet-owner clients through end-of-life care and the euthanasia process, contributing to compassion fatigue and burnout in the field. COVID-19 has impacted the provision of veterinary care and affected communication between providers and pet owners. This qualitative study explores the experiences of veterinary providers who provided end-of- life care and performed euthanasia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants for this qualitative study were recruited and interviewed using criterion sampling from four veterinary practices in the northeastern United States. Inductive thematic analysis was used …

Shark-Diving Tourism In The Macaronesian Archipelagos: Challenges And Opportunities, Pedro Gonzáles Mantilla

ITSA 2022 Gran Canaria - 9th Biennial Conference: Corporate Entrepreneurship and Global Tourism Strategies After Covid 19

The Macaronesian region is typically heavily exploited by fisheries; however, in recent years, marine wildlife tourism has become popular and a shark-diving industry has emerged, potentially presenting an alternative for the sustainable use of sharks. Combining a literature review with interviews with dive operators conducting shark encounters in the Macaronesian archipelagos, we provide an overview of the challenges and conservation potential of shark-diving tourism for these territories. Owing to the regular presence of important shark species for tourism and the growth of the scuba-diving industry, shark-diving has potential to expand over the region. Yet, the overlap between European industrial fishing …

When Therapy Dogs Provide Virtual Comfort: Exploring University Students’ Insights And Perspectives, Christine Yvette Tardif-Williams, John-Tyler Binfet, Freya L. L. Green, Renata P. S. Roma, Akshat Singal, Camille X. Rousseau, Rebecca J. P. Godard

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

With the proliferation of canine-assisted interventions and the emphasis placed on the impact of these sessions in bolstering the well-being of visitors to sessions, especially university students, it can be easy to overlook just how participating in one of these sessions is experienced by participants. Capturing participants’ experiences is important as this holds the potential to inform program design and delivery and elucidate mechanisms within the intervention that were found to be especially efficacious. Forging new empirical terrain, this study explored the insights and perceptions of 469 undergraduate students who participated in a virtual canine-assisted stress-reduction intervention at a mid-size …

Emotional Depictions Of Dogs And Cats In Interactions With Humans In Picture Books, Juri Nakagawa, Naoko Koda

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

This study quantitatively analyzed the depiction of dogs’ and cats’ emotions in picture books and discussed the effects on children’s recognition of real dog and cat emotions. The stories depicted many basic emotional depictions of interest, joy, and surprise in dogs and cats, whereas the humans in the stories showed more varied, complicated emotions. Interest was most often caused by familiar humans in dogs, and by objects in cats. Joy was most often caused by familiar humans in dogs and cats, which would lead child readers to recognize that dogs and cats are friendly toward humans. There were depictions of …

Uniting For Important Paws: The Independent Cat Society And S.H.I.N.E., Kayla Vasilko

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Homeless pets outnumber homeless people 5 to 1; only 1 in 10 animals in animal shelters are spayed or neutered; thus, organizations like the Independent Cat Society (ICS), a non-profit, cage-less, no kill cat shelter are vital community resources (Gaille, 2017). At the ICS, every cat admitted is spayed or neutered and updated on any needed medical treatment; feline overpopulation is addressed through trap, neuter, release (TNR), and additional programs to educate the public on responsible animal care practices (“About the ICS,” 2019). Through volunteerism and two Purdue Service-Learning grants, the Purdue University Northwest student organization S.H.I.N.E (students helping ignite …

Exploring Children’S Insights About Participating In Recreational Activities With Horses And Farm Animals: Social Emotional Experiences And Belief In Animal Mind, Christine Yvette Tardif-Williams, Renata P. S. Roma

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

Research continues to shed light on the impact of children’s interactions with horses in equine-assisted, learning, and therapeutic contexts. However, we know relatively less about the impact of children’s recreational activities with horses and a diversity of farm animals. What is needed is research that explores how recreational programs involving activities with horses and farm animals are perceived by the child participants themselves. This pilot study sought to explore the insights of children who participated in a nine-week recreational program involving activities with horses and farm animals, with a focus on children’s social emotional experiences and belief in animal mind …

“My Companion Through The Pandemic”: The Importance Of The Human-Animal Bond During Covid-19, Christine Krouzecky, Jan Aden, Anastasiya Bunina, Katharina Hametner, Armin Klaps, Zuzana Kovacovsky, Nora Ruck, Birgit Ursula Stetina

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

The COVID- 19 pandemic, due to its global biopsychosocial effects, encourages re-search regarding the promotion of health. Studies in this area concentrate on the human–animal bond as a source of physical and psychological well- being (Shoesmith et al., 2021). In this context, contradictory results have been reported, which on the one hand underline the positive influences of animal companionship on humans’ well- being (Ratschen et al., 2020), and on the other hand demonstrate contrary effects (Mueller et al., 2021). Based on inconsistent findings, the present study aimed to investigate to what extent the human–animal bond influences different psychosocial parameters (including …

Stakeholders’ Perspectives On The Safety Of An Adaptive Riding Program For Adults Living With Dementia And Care Partners, Alicia A. Oestreich, Beth E. Fields

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

The purpose of this qualitative community-based participatory research was to explore the safety perspectives of stakeholders involved in an adaptive horseback riding program designed to enhance the quality of life of adults living with dementia and their care partners. Human–animal interactions are becoming increasingly popular therapeutic interventions; however, there is still a lack of understanding about the safety considerations for providing adults living with dementia opportunities to interact with horses and the equine environment. To advance our understanding, researchers analyzed 10 semistructured interviews and two focus groups with therapeutic riding program instructors and staff, aging network specialists, and care partners …

Mothers’ Reflections On Cat Ownership For A Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder During Covid-19, Saskia Keville, Sophia De Vita, Amanda K. Ludlow

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

Animal- assisted interventions are increasingly used as a complementary therapy in clinical practice to support people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with promising outcomes compared to traditional therapies. Less is understood about the therapeutic benefits of more accessible and affordable small pet ownership for families with a child with ASD, alongside the pets’ welfare living in these homes. This study explored the experiences of cat ownership for young people with ASD from the perspective of their mothers during a time of transition generated by COVID-19. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six mothers and transcripts analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three …

Attachment And Perceived Stress Among Pet Owners Before And During The Lockdown In China, Sara Platto, Agathe Serres, Simona R C Normando, Yanqing Wang, Dennis C. Turner

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

The current pandemic has brought a lot of social and economic strains to families worldwide, as well as making a huge impact on the long- term care of companion animals. The current study explored differences in the attachment level of owners toward their pets and their perceived stress before and during the pandemic in China. The questionnaire, besides demographic information, included a modified version of the Companion Animal Bonding Scale (CABS) and the original form of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). A total of 261 questionnaires were collected. The respondents did not show any significant differences in attachment level toward …

Diversity, Equity And Inclusion In Human-Animal Interaction, Nira Grynheim

Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship

No abstract provided.

Attitude Toward Companion And Guard Dogs In Hawaii: Health And Welfare Implications, Lynn Morrison, Julie Ann Luiz Adrian, Marina Kelley, Johana Hill, Zachariah Tman, Dana-Lynn Ko'omoa-Lange

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

The island of Hawaii exhibits extremes in dog welfare ranging from dogs as family members to dogs used as commodities, either as guard or hunting dogs, with many lacking appropriate care. This study offers a preliminary exploration of people’s attitudes toward companion and noncompanion dogs and the health and welfare implications for humans and dogs. Data collection included interviews and surveys conducted among 20 companion dog/human and eight guard dog/human dyads. Blood pressure (BP) was monitored during interviews to assess stress. The results of the interview data led to five themes. The first two themes describing contexts of dog welfare …

The Canine-Campus Connection: Roles For Dogs In The Lives Of College Students, Mary Renck Jalongo

Purdue University Press Book Previews

No abstract provided.

Bearing Witness To The Beauty Of Enactive Kinesthetic Empathy Across Species In Canine-Human And Equine-Human Interactions: Participant-Observation Ethnographies, Donna A. Carlyle, Pamela Graham

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

Through observations from ethnographic fieldwork the authors seek to highlight the significance of equine-human and canine-human communication to the fields of both human- animal studies and eudaimonia theories of human well-being. As we shared our insights through academic conversations about our respective research findings, we realized that both studies explore the enigmatic and significant concept of kinesthetic empathy in communication and relationship building between horses and young people and between dogs and young children. The canine-child setting (Study A) is a primary school and classroom in which the children voted to share their environment with a school dog, and the …

Bred Heifer Price Determinants In The Southeast, Christopher Boyer, Andrew P. Griffith, Jada M. Thompson, Justin Rhinehart, Kenneth H. Burdine, Kevin Laurent

Journal of Applied Farm Economics

Price determinants for bulls, cows, and feeder cattle are well established in the literature but there has been little research on bred heifer price determinants and specifically the impact of feeder cattle prices on the purchase price of bred heifers. We estimated the impact of reproductive characteristics and feeder cattle prices on bred heifer prices for beef production. Data were obtained from a May and November bred heifer sale located in Kentucky and hedonic pricing models were estimated for bred heifers for each sale month. Prices for fall- calving heifers were influenced by number of months bred or expected calving …

Therapy Dog Ownership As Serious Leisure For Members Of A Therapy Dog Volunteer Group, Jonathan R. Hicks, Mary Kramer

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

Therapy dogs are used in a variety of settings, including prisons, hospitals, and schools, for the purposes of providing emotional and psychological support to humans. They are trained to be well behaved and to be perceived as supportive of humans. This study sought to explore the benefits to the human individuals who facilitate trained therapy sessions. Specifically considered were the ways in which therapy dog ownership is a form of serious leisure and the ways in which that leisure influences owners’ day- to- day lives. Findings suggest owners of therapy dogs experience enhanced personal enrichment, relationship with dog(s), and sense …

Animal-Assisted Interventions: Relationship Between Standards And Qualifications, Greta Kerulo, Niko Kargas, Daniel S. Mills, Graham Law, Rise Vanfleet, Tracie Faa-Thompson, Melissa Y. Winkle

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

Ethical practice of animal- assisted interventions (AAI) requires appropriate qualifications and experience for all parties involved. Recently introduced and updated Standards of Practice emphasize the importance of AAI- specific training and qualification for different types of AAI, which should only be delivered within the scope of one’s professional competence. The purpose of this study was (1) to explore how a self- selected group of practitioners delivering AAI describe their work in relation to recent attempts to develop a terminological consensus (IAHAIO, 2014, 2018), and (2) to describe how AAI best practice recommendations (AAII, 2018) are implemented into professional practice among …

Effects Of Facility Dogs On Emotional Wellbeing Of Pediatric Hospital Personnel, Abhinav Ramesh

Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship

Healthcare is one of the most demanding professions, and approximately 45% of physicians experience job-related burnout (Dyrbye et al., 2018). While previous research has shown that working with facility dogs in hospitals may improve job satisfaction (Jensen et al., 2021), little research has been done on specific observed factors related to emotional wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to examine effects of working with facility dogs on emotions using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). One advantage of EMA over traditional assessments is the elimination of temporal bias, by asking participants about their current state rather than asking them to recollect …

The Effects Of Adolescent Chronic Mild Stress: In Female Wistar-Kyoto Rats, Anna Hallowell

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

Despite years of research to understand under-lying mechanisms and develop more effective treatment approaches for mood disorders, numerous challenges exist. Many chronic stress models are used to study mood disorders, how-ever the majority have been established with adult males. This is problematic considering that affective disorders are more common in women, and generally develop during late adolescence. Studies have indicated fundamental behavioral, physiological, and neural differences between males and females in response to the same external stressors, furthering a need to develop sex-specific paradigms to accurately model the etiology of mood disorders in females. The Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rat strain is …

The Intersection Of Aging And Pet Guardianship: Influences Of Health And Social Support, Ranell L. Mueller, Elizabeth G. Hunter

People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice

Studies of the human-animal bond show many positive health effects for pet guardians including a sense of companionship, reduced depression and loneliness, and higher activity levels, yet few studies have examined factors such as how the pet guardians’ health, age, and social networks influence their relationship with and ability to care for their pet. These health factors may affect the ability of older adults to care for their pets, therefore inhibiting them from reaping positive benefits associated with pet guardianship. This qualitative study involved 21 in-depth interviews with older adults, aged 60+, who were pet guardians. Four themes emerged from …

Acoustic Signatures Of Habitat Types In The Miombo Woodlands Of Western Tanzania, Sheryl Vanessa Amorocho, Dante Francomano, Kristen M. Bellisario, Ben Gottesman, Bryan C. Pijanowski

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The Miombo Woodlands of Tanzania comprise several habitat types that are home to a great number of flora and fauna. Understanding their responses to increasing human disturbance is important for conservation, especially in places where people depend so directly on their local ecosystem services to survive. Soundscapes are a powerful approach to study complex biomes undergoing change. The sounds emitted by soniferous fauna characterize the acoustic profile of the landscapes they inhabit such that habitats with the highest acoustic abundance are considered as the most diverse and possibly more ecologically resilient. However, acoustic variability within similar habitat types may pose …

Co-Modulation Masking Release Begins In The Auditory Periphery, Kareem R. Hussein, Agudemu Borjigan, Mark Sayles

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Understanding speech in noisy environments can be difficult, especially for people with hearing loss. The background noise can cover up the sounds of interest. Normally, the auditory system works to alleviate this problem by tagging and then cancelling the noise. Our experiments are aimed at understanding the mechanism of this noise cancellation process. We hypothesize that non-linear signal processing in the mammalian cochlea (the most peripheral part of the auditory system) is the basis of noise cancellation. To test this hypothesis, we measured the responses of auditory-nerve fibers (ANFs) to sounds embedded in background noise with different statistical properties. ANFs …

The Role Of Adiponectin And The Adipocyte In Energy Metabolism And Inflammation, Sheila Kay Jacobi

Open Access Dissertations

A series of experiments were conducted to characterize the autocrine role of adiponectin in modulating fatty acid metabolism and inflammation in the pig. In the first study, we cloned and sequenced the porcine adiponectin open reading frame and evaluated the regulation of adiponectin, in vitro and in vivo. The porcine sequence shares approximately 88, 86, 85 and 83% homology with the dog, human, cow and mouse adiponectin, respectively, and 79–83% similarity with dog, human, cow and mouse proteins at the amino acid level, based on the translated porcine sequence and GenBank submissions for the other species. Analysis of serum from …

Effects Of Biomass Harvest On Eastern Red-Backed Salamanders, Patrick J. Ruhl

Open Access Theses

In a typical forest harvest, the volume of coarse woody debris (CWD) increases from nonmerchantable material (i.e., tree-tops, limbs, and small-diameter trees) left on the forest floor. Biomass harvesting removes much of this material for bioenergy production. When removed, ecosystem services associated with CWD, such as seedbed substrate, nutrient cycling, and essential wildlife habitat, is reduced. Woodland salamanders have strict microhabitat and soil moisture requirements that make them especially sensitive to timber harvest practices, particularly those that remove CWD, a primary habitat for the group.

I monitored the abundance of Eastern red-backed salamanders ( Plethodon cinereus ) in response to …

Growth Of Post-Weaned Grazing Dairy Heifers When Evaluating The Effects Of Providing Shade Or Parasite Control, Mohammad W. Sahar

Open Access Theses

Reduced heat stress and lower gastrointestinal parasite loads can increase growth rate in heifers, potentially reducing the age at first breeding and lowering the costs associated with raising replacement dairy heifers. Providing shade is a recommended practice for reducing heat stress of grazing animals and is considered important for their wellbeing and productivity. However, limited information is available on the growth performance of young grazing dairy heifers when they are provided shade. Likewise, numerous products exist to prevent gastrointestinal parasites in animals. The development of new anthelmintic products, such as LongRange® (eprinomectin), increase the need for research to help understand …