Introduction: Many on-campus therapy dogs are exposed to both novel stimuli (e.g., sessions are often held in public spaces, dogs encounter a rotation of new clients) and student clients who are characterized by heightened stress (Durand-Bush et al., 2015). Such exposure, coupled with the need to develop animal-centric best practices, supports the call for additional research on canine therapy and well-being. We examined if the very intervention designed to reduce stress in human participants increased stress in canine participants.
Methodology: Forty certified therapy dogs (60% female; Mage = 4.75 years, SDage = 2.89 55% purebred) and their handlers (85% female; Mage = 38.9 years, SD = 13.2) were recruited from an on-campus canine therapy program. Undergraduate students (N = 754, 62% female, 46% first-year) self-selected to participate in once-per-week programs throughout the Fall 2017 semester. Stress was assessed using a 5-point scale (1 = low, 5 = high). Handlers and visitors self-rated their stress upon beginning and ending of their session. Each dog’s stress was rated 10 minutes after arrival, at mid-session, and at session’s end, by his/her handler and by a trained research assistant. Students rated the stress of each dog they visited at the end of their visit.
Main Results: Student stress was significantly lower at session-end compared to session-start t(725) = 43.53, p > .001, d = 1.62. Inter-rater agreement of canine stress was low (ICC = .394). Canine stress did not differ significantly across the three timing points t(38) = 0.22, p = .831, d = 0.03; t(28) = 0.53, p = .602, d = 0.10; t(28) = 0.00, p = 1.00; d = 0.00). Canine stress did not appear to be significantly impacted by the number or duration of their student interactions, nor by the number of highlystressed students (stress scores > 3) present in the session as a whole F(4, 25) = 1.25, p = .315.
Principal Conclusions and Implications for Field: Findings suggest there is variability in perceptions of canine stress in working therapy dogs. Despite reducing participant stress, therapy dogs do not appear to be stressed when working in on-campus stress-reduction initiatives.