Dogs' Behavioural Responses to Dog-Assisted Interventions: A Field Study

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Medicine
• Animal Behavior
• Human-Animal Interaction

Background:

• Animal-assisted services (AASs) are common in healthcare and education.
• Limited empirical data exists on the emotional well-being of dogs in AASs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how dog, session, handler, and client factors influence dogs' affective states during various animal-assisted interventions.
• To identify key affective components in dogs during these services.

Main Methods:

• Observation of 837 sessions involving 63 dogs and 30 handlers.
• Behavioral scoring and statistical analyses, including Principal Component Analysis.
• Identification of affective components: playfulness, comfort, anxiety, and uncertainty.

Main Results:

• Dog age, experience, gender, session context, handler, and client characteristics significantly affected dog affect.
• Older dogs showed less playfulness but were more settled; experience positively impacted affect in some AASs.
• Female dogs exhibited more uncertainty/arousal in specific settings; younger clients correlated with increased dog tension.

Conclusions:

• Dog welfare in AASs depends on matching dogs to roles, planning sessions, and managing workload.
• Individual dog characteristics and session dynamics are crucial for positive outcomes.
• Further research can refine best practices for dog well-being in AASs.