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Updated: Sep 10, 2025
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The Other End of the Leash: An Experimental Test to Analyze How Owners Interact with Their Pet Dogs
Published on: October 13, 2017
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Exploring Interaction Dynamics in Dog-Assisted Therapy: An Observational Study.
Candela Jasmin Hüsgen1,2, Nienke Peters-Scheffer1, Robert Didden1,3
1Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
|August 28, 2025
Summary
Dog-assisted therapy (DAT) involves dogs in sessions to improve well-being. While dogs may act as an icebreaker, interaction dynamics vary, necessitating further research into participant and dog characteristics.
Area of Science:
- Animal-assisted interventions
- Human-animal interaction
- Therapeutic studies
Background:
- Dog-assisted therapy (DAT) is increasingly popular for enhancing participant well-being.
- Limited understanding exists regarding the intricate interaction dynamics among dogs, participants, and therapists during DAT sessions.
- Investigating these interactions is crucial for optimizing therapeutic outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the interaction dynamics within dog-assisted therapy (DAT) sessions.
- To analyze patterns of active participation, focus direction, joint focus, and physical contact.
- To understand how these dynamics evolve across multiple therapy sessions.
Main Methods:
- Behavioral observations and an ethogram were used to analyze video data from DAT sessions.
- Data were collected from sessions 1, 5, and 9 across 10 individual therapy sessions involving five participants.
- Key interaction variables included active participation, focus direction, joint focus, and physical contact.
Main Results:
- Therapist participation increased over time; participant activity remained stable.
- Dogs showed peak activity in initial and final sessions; participant focus on dogs stabilized after an initial decrease.
- Joint participant-therapist focus increased, while physical contact with dogs varied significantly, suggesting individual differences.
Conclusions:
- Findings partially support the 'icebreaker' theory for DAT, but consistency varied among participants.
- Therapist-dog interactions were consistently low, indicating limited direct engagement.
- Variations in physical contact may be attributed to dog characteristics and individual participant needs, highlighting the complexity of DAT.
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