The aim of the study is to understand how a child’s responsibility of care for a family pet affects the attachment and relationship between the child and dog. Attachment has been defined as a bond between two individuals that promotes both proximity-seeking and independent activity (Udell and Brubaker, 2016). Responsibility...
Approximately one in six children in the United States has a developmental disability (CDC, 2018). Among a wide variety of interventions that have been developed to support the health, wellbeing, and development of youth with disabilities, Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI) have become increasingly prevalent. Some AAI involve youth participating with their...
Although it is widely accepted that dogs and humans form attachment relationships, characterizing attachment styles in dogs has only recently received attention in the literature. Previous research has shown that pet dogs display patterns of behavior in an attachment test that can be classified into secure and insecure attachment styles,...
The domestic cat is one of the world’s most popular companion animals. However, to date much remains to be learned about cat behavior and the cat-human relationship. To examine the influence of proximate factors on cat behavior and the human-cat bond, three studies were undertaken. Study 1 directly measured the...
Gazing behavior is a vital part of nonverbal communication, as it can provide information about attentional state, subtext, environment, and point of view. Both dogs and cats have previously been shown to display gazing behavior when presented with an unsolvable task, as well as follow nonverbal directional ques given by...
The present study explored the effects of intranasal oxytocin (OT), a naturally occurring hormone, on the behavior of pet dogs in an attachment test. Each dog participated in two testing sessions. On one visit saline was administered nasally and on another OT was administered nasally. Condition order was counterbalanced. Following...