Research continues to shed light on the benefits associated with dog ownership. However, we know virtually nothing about how undesired dog behaviours impact young people’s behavioural and perceptive experiences with their dogs. Understanding these impacts is important because it can offer a more nuanced understanding of the effects of dog ownership. This exploratory study applied a qualitative methodology to examine young people’s perceptions about their dog’s behavioural issues, along with a focus on young people’s coping styles. Seven participants aged between 17 and 26 years engaged in semi-structured in-depth one-on-one interviews about their experiences with their dogs and their coping strategies in response to undesired dog behaviours. Thematic coding identified the following salient themes in participants’ responses which were subsequently explored in detail: (1) severity of dogs’ behavioural issues, (2) participants’ coping styles, (3) the relationship between the dog’s behavioural issues and the participant, (4) participants’ emotional reactions, (5) participants’ self-evaluation – insights – of their coping styles, and (6) similarities between participants’ coping styles with humans to whom they are close and those used with their dogs. Findings from this study indicate that young people prefer proactive coping styles when coping with undesired behaviours in their dogs. This study’s findings also indicate that the severity of dogs’ behavioural issues is associated with young people’s emotions (e.g., more severe behavioural issues seem to elicit more intense emotions). The significance of these findings for practice in the field of human-animal interactions is discussed.

No abstract

The research shows that children’s and adolescents’ attachments with pets play an important role in their social and emotional lives. However, little research exists on how children and adolescents show compassion toward themselves and others and how this caring ability relates to their attachment with pets. This study explored the relations among children’s and adolescents’ compassion, empathy, and attachment to their pets. Sixty-one Canadian youths aged 7–15.9 years (M = 11.35) participated in this study (n = 38 g, 23 b) and completed self-report questionnaires including the Lexington Attachment to Pets scale, subscale of Dispositional Positive Emotions, Self-compassion scale for children, and Bryant’s Index of Empathy for Children and Adolescents (IECA). The results showed older adolescents were more likely than younger children to score high on cognitive and emotional dimensions of empathy and be less likely to feel alone and isolated. High levels of emotional pet attachment related to high levels of the ability to feel sad when witnessing others in distress and high levels of mindful, compassionate, and self-responding feelings of compassion for others. The results also showed that those participants who experienced intensified emotional attachment toward their pets (either current or in the past), were less likely to judge themselves in negative ways. Overall, our findings suggest that children’s emotional attachments with pets relate to their ability to respond to themselves and others in kind and compassionate ways and not necessarily their ability to understand another person’s emotions.

A growing body of research has linked the inclusion of dogs in Animal-Assisted Activities (AAA) for children and young adults to a diverse range of positive social emotional and cognitive outcomes. However, many studies have focused exclusively on aspects directly related to dog-client interactions. There is a need to gain a better understanding of how dog-handler teams have been described, conceptualized and incorporated into the analysis in previous research. In addition, few studies have investigated the mutual adjustments inherent to dog-handler-client triadic relationships. This paper explores if and how the unique characteristics of dog-handler teams have been conceptualized and measured in previous studies. First, this paper undertakes a scoping review to map what, if any, characteristics of dogs, handlers, and dog-handler teams have been described and incorporated into the assessment of AAAs from 2004 to 2019 including: demographic characteristics, formal training and certification, handlers’ or dogs’ behavioral and physiological responses to AAAs, handlers’ roles during activities, and configuration of AAA teams. This scoping review also highlights key features of AAA teams requiring further investigation. In addition, this paper proposes the incorporation of a transdisciplinary framework to the analysis of AAAs. Such a holistic framework can inform the field of human-animal interactions by prioritizing a relational and contextual focus to the study of AAAs.

No abstract