Dog People vs. Cat People: How Does Our Perception of Our Pets Influence Mental Health

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in the perception of loyalty in dogs and cats as companion animals and how those perceptions may benefit mental health. Participants were 154 adult males and females aged from 19 to74 years old in the United States. Participants answered a survey on companion animals, animal bond, attachment, anthropomorphism, loyalty, and mental health measures if they owned a dog or cat. If participants did not own a pet then they only answered the perceived stress, depressions, loneliness, and social support questionnaire. The hypothesis that dog owners who have a strong loyalty with their pet will have more health benefits than will cat owners was supported. Dog owners experienced less loneliness and stress than cat owners did. Findings in this study extended prior research by exploring the differences in cats and dogs as companion animals

Multispecies Communities

Prof. Dr. Jens Schröter, Dr. Pablo Abend und Prof. Dr. Benjamin Beil sind Herausgeber der Reihe. Die Herausgeber*innen der einzelnen Hefte sind renommierte Wissenschaftler*innen aus dem In- und Ausland."Multispecies Communities" sind nicht mehr alleine auf den Menschen fixiert und bringen andere Akteure ins Spiel. Damit ergeben sich neue Formen der Kommunikationen und Kollaborationen, der Verantwortlichkeiten und der Rücksichtnahmen (awareness), der Vergemeinschaftungen und der Teilhaben: Diese finden statt zwischen Menschen und Tieren, Pflanzen und Algorithmen, Artefakten und Biofakten, Maschinen und Medien; zwischen den Sphären von belebt und unbelebt, real und virtuell, unberührt und augmentiert. Der Umgang mit Technik ist längst kein menschliches Privileg mehr, wie die Ausdifferenzierungen von Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) in Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI) oder Plant-Computer Interaction (PCI) verdeutlichen. Diese Ausdifferenzierungen finden ihren Niederschlag ebenso in den verschiedenen Disziplinen der Wissenschaft und in der Kunst sowie in gesellschaftlichen, sozialen, ethischen und politischen Aushandlungen des gemeinsamen Miteinanders. In dieser Ausgabe sind für diesen Diskussionszusammenhang relevante programmatische Texte versammelt und erstmals für den deutschsprachigen Raum zugänglich gemacht."Multispecies communities" are no longer focused on humans alone and bring other actors into play. This results in new forms of communication and collaboration, of responsibilities and awareness, of communalisation and participation: These take place between humans and animals, plants and algorithms, artefacts and biofacts, machines and media; between the spheres of animate and inanimate, real and virtual, untouched and augmented. Dealing with technology is no longer a human privilege, as the differentiations from Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) into Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI) or Plant-Computer Interaction (PCI) exemplify. These differentiations are also reflected in the various disciplines of science and art as well as in societal, social, ethical and political negotiations of shared interaction. In this issue, relevant programmatic texts have been collected for this discussion context and made available for the first time for the German-speaking area

Can DAVE (Dog-Assisted Virtual Environment) be used in the assessment of human behaviour towards dogs?

Despite the popularity of pet dogs and their broad benefits to humans, there are also disadvantages of human-dog interactions, such as human-directed dog aggression potentially resulting in injury or death and/or psychological distress. Such incidents may also impact the welfare of dogs as they may be punished, rehomed, abandoned, seized or euthanised. While there are many contributing factors leading to dog bites, little research to date has explored human behaviour in the presence of dogs displaying aggressive behaviour, due to the ethical and practical implications of conducting such research in real life scenarios. To address this, a virtual reality (VR) dog model was developed by VR and animation experts at the Virtual Engineering Centre UK, with input from qualified dog behaviourists. DAVE (Dog-Assisted Virtual Environment) was developed to display “aggressive” and non-reactive behaviours. The “aggressive” behaviour was based on the Canine Ladder of Aggression model. The size, colour, environment and audio of the dog could be modified and an indoor (house) and outdoor (park) environment was available. Both the VR dog model (VR tasks) and videos of the virtual dog model (online survey) were used to assess human behaviour and their ability to interpret dog behaviour. This included evaluating differences in participant approach-stop distance around the two different virtual dogs, varying colour, size, environment, audio and participant characteristics. In addition, DAVE was used to assess the effectiveness of veterinary student training in animal behaviour and handling. Participants were able to use the VR equipment with limited instructions needed and user responses indicated that there was no evidence of simulator sickness during the VR tasks. Presence scores were rated as high demonstrating evidence of suitable immersion in the virtual environment. Participants regarded the dog models behaviour and appearance to be similar to that of a real dog, whether in VR or watching videos. Participants moved closer to the non-reactive dog model compared to the aggressive dog model. Participants also moved closer to the dog model if they were male, had less experience with dogs or if the size of dog was small. Whereas there was no evidence of a difference in how close participants got to the medium sized, yellow dog model displaying aggressive behaviour when comparing audio (presence versus absence) or environment type (indoor versus outdoor). There was no evidence of a difference in approach-stop distance based on coat colour (yellow and black). Participants most frequently blamed themselves or the owners for the dog’s behaviour and rarely the dog, similar to real-life scenarios. Veterinary students moved closer to the virtual dog before their teaching and training sessions than after. This research demonstrates that DAVE can be used to assess aspects of human behaviour in the presence of a virtual dog model and provides further insight into human interpretation of specific dog behaviour signals which may aid in dog bite prevention education and training. Given that this is the first model of its kind, based on expert feedback and a theoretical dog behaviour model, these results are encouraging and highlight the need for future work with a broader range of participants, particularly those that are at a higher risk of dog bites