Affiliation:
1. Department of Animal and Food Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA
Abstract
Abstract
To support the well-being of students, animal-assisted interventions (AAI) have been introduced on school campuses across North America; however, it has yet to be explored how incorporating non-therapy animals, such as shelter dogs, in these settings can be used to support their welfare alongside students. As shelter dogs have been shown to benefit from brief human interaction, we assessed the use of an on-campus AAI using a novel, shelter dog socialization intervention. Unstructured, 30-min interactions occurred between students and shelter dogs to explore how the shelter dog’s behavior changed across the interaction. The long-term goal is for these interactions between shelter dogs and students to become an established university and community outreach program that is routinely offered to concurrently support student well-being and shelter dog welfare and adoption success.
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© The Authors 2023