1. What Makes a Good Therapy Dog?
Identifying Factors Associated with Calm Behavior in Therapy Dogs
Kristen Cunningham, Zachary Darwish, & Rosemary Strasser
Psychology– Neuroscience and Behavior, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE 68182
Background
Results
Conclusions
Therapy dogs can provide a wide array of benefits to diverse populations including individuals with autism1, children learning to read2, as well as hospitalized patients3. Because most existing research focuses on benefits to humans, few researchers have investigated the therapy dogs themselves.
A rather extensive body of literature exists which explores the behavioral traits that make successful service dogs and highlights factor such as reduced distractibility, aggression4, fearfulness5,6. Successful dogs often display traits such as increased willingness to please, cooperation, mental stability7, docility, and initiative4. In a study of military working dogs, the Canine Behavior Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ) was used and researchers found that successful dogs scored higher on trainability and hyperactivity and lower in fear-related categories8.
Therapy dogs differ from service or emotional support dogs in that rather than providing benefits to one individual whom they live with, these dogs interact with and provide comfort to a variety of people often across a wide range of environments. Although therapy dogs must obtain a certification with a national therapy dog organization, they are not covered by the ADA and typically do not have public access like a service dog9.
Goals
To explore how owner assessments of therapy dogs might differ from those of pet dogs and to further investigate behaviors shown by therapy dogs during a session.
Hypotheses:
When using the C-BARQ to assess owner-rated behavior, it is predicted that therapy dogs will show lower scores for behaviors related to less desirable traits such as fear and aggression compared to the average dog. It is also predicted that therapy dogs will show higher scores on more favorable traits.
If therapy dogs experience stress during a therapy visit, then we would expect to see an increase in stress or arousal behaviors across the session.
This study provides a comparison of owner-reported behaviors between therapy dogs and the general population. Like service dogs, therapy dogs seemed to score lower on aggression4 and fear5,6 as well as higher on factors related to trainability4.
The data observing stress/arousal behaviors across the therapy session does not support the conclusion that therapy dogs become stressed by these interactions. Rather, it appears that they display stress-related behaviors most frequently at the beginning of the session and this decreases as the session continues, resulting in even less frequent stress-related behavior after the session.
Future research should continue to examine differences between therapy dogs and other dogs in order to better understand what qualities are associated with a successful therapy dog. Additional research in our laboratory seeks to compare these stress-related behaviors seen across the session to those shown by pet dogs in order to determine if this effect is specific to therapy dogs.
A better understanding of therapy dogs in general may aid in the selection and/or training process of future therapy dogs and the continued investigations into stress/arousal behaviors has important implications for their welfare.
Comparison of Therapy Dogs and General Population on C-BARQ Items
Therapy Dogs
General Population Dogs
1a.
Aggression
1b.
Fear and Sensitivity
1c.
Other Qualities
Figures 1a,b,c. Comparison of owner-rated aggressive behaviors (1a), fear and sensitivity behaviors (1b) and additional factors (1c) between therapy dogs (blue bars) and the average population (green bars). Overall therapy dogs were rated lower on aggressive (1a) and fear and sensitivity-based behaviors (1b). Therapy dogs were rated higher on trainability and attachment/attention-seeking behaviors and lower on energy (1c).
References
1. Solomon, O. (2010). What a dog can do: Children with autism and therapy dogs in social interaction. Ethos, 38(1),
2. Gee, N. R., Harris, S. L., & Johnson, K. L. (2007). The role of therapy dogs in speed and accuracy to complete motor skills tasks for preschool children. Anthrozoös, 20(4),
3. Barker, S. B., & Dawson, K. S. (1998). The effects of animal-assisted therapy on anxiety ratings of hospitalized psychiatric patients. Psychiatric services, 49(6),
4. Arata, S., Momozawa, Y., Takeuchi, Y., & Mori, Y. (2010). Important behavioral traits for predicting guide dog qualifications. The Journal of Veterinary Medical Science, 72(5), doi: /jvms
5. Goddard, M.E. & Beilharz, R.G. (1983). Genetics of traits which determine the suitability of dogs as guide-dogs for the blind. Applied Animal Behavior Society, 15, doi: / (86)90095-X
6. Weiss, E., & Greenberg, G. (1997). Service dog selection tests: Effectiveness for dogs from animal shelters. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 53, doi: /S (96)
7. Wilsson, E., & Sundgren, P. (1997). The use of behavior test for the selection of dogs for service and breeding, I: Method of testing and evaluating test results in the adult dog, demands on different kinds of service dogs, sex and breed differences. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 53,
8. Foyer, P., Bjällerhag, N., Wilsson, E., & Jensen, P. (2014). Behaviour and experiences of dogs during the first year of life predict the outcome in a later temperament test. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 155, doi:10/1016/j.applanim
9. American Kennel Club (2017, November 28). What is a Therapy Dog? Retrieved from
Stress/Arousal Behaviors Seen Across a Therapy Session
2a.
Panting
2b.
Oral Behaviors * * * * *
Methods
Subjects:
Dogs in the present study consisted of 11 altered females, three unaltered males, and 18 altered males (Mage = months old, SDage = 27.19). Dogs represented a variety of breeds.
Methods:
Data were collected from 32 owner-dog dyads during the course of regularly scheduled therapy visits at various locations across the Omaha metropolitan including schools, libraries, hospitals, and nursing homes.
Owners completed the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ) in order to provide more information on the dogs’ typically behavior. Scores from the owners’ assessments were compared to the C-BARQ’s database of general population averages for subscales of the traits assessed.
During therapy sessions, dogs were observed for stress behaviors in three 10 minute segments: at the beginning of the visit, 30 minutes into the session (toward the end), and after the therapy visit was complete. Stress behaviors that were frequently observed were analyzed using a repeated measures ANOVA.
2c.
Yawning * * *
Figures 2a,b,c. Panting (2a) was observed less frequently after the session was complete compared to at the beginning or end of the session, F(2,60) = 10.14, p < Oral behaviors (2b) and yawning (2c) were observed less frequently at the end of the session than the beginning and were observed even less frequently after the session was complete, F(1.46, 43.66) = 11.73, p < .001; F(2, 60) = 10.21, p < .001, respectively.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to L. Boghean, M. Stallngs, and C. Miciunas of the Strasser lab for assistance with data collection.
We acknowledge James Sperpell and the University of Pennsylvania for allowing us to use the C-BARQ and providing population averages for comparison.
This research was supported by a Graduate Research and Creative Activity grant.