Introduction: The prevalence of university-based animal visitation programs has increased, yet little is known about effects on student and animal wellbeing and behavior. We have limited understanding about the extent to which behaviors occurring during the student-animal interaction may impact potential benefits of the interaction. This study describes student and dog behavior, and the interaction between the two in the initial 10-minutes of a university-based animal visitation program.
Methodology: Interactions preceding and during the initial greeting period were recorded during four, weekly, one-hour long program sessions between students (n = 87, Mage = 18.97 years, nfreshman = 48, nfemale = 75) and dogs (n = 21, nmale = 12, Mage = 4 years, Age Max = 12 years, Age Min = 6 months) and coded (7092 total minutes, nvideos = 97, Mduration = 70.2 minutes) using a grounded theory approach (Straus & Corbin, 1978). Differences between the frequency and duration of relevant dog behavior (e.g., postural state, oral behavior) were compared before and during introductory interactions with students. Additionally, correlations between dog and student greeting behavior (e.g., posture, petting behavior and location) were calculated.
Results: Frequency of dog lip-licking (Mbefore = 1.26, Mafter = 1.82, Z = -3.418, p = 0.001, r = 0.27) and yawning (Mbefore = 0.09, Mafter = 0.21, Z = -2.749, p = 0.006, r = 0.22) increased during interactions with students. Lip-licking frequency was positively correlated with mutual greetings between students and dogs (r(78) = 0.251, p = 0.025). Students most frequently initiated greetings with dogs while sitting and petting the dog’s head in a mutual interaction (19.9% of greetings). Lip-licking (r(78) = 0.359, p = 0.001) and body shake (r(78) = 0.420, p < 0.001) frequency were both positively correlated with student standing behavior.
Conclusions: Dogs experience heightened arousal upon initial greeting and interaction with students. However, the absence of severe stress behaviors and sustained social approach behaviors suggest that the dogs may have been displaying excitement rather than a more negative form of stress Student greeting behavior appears to impact dog behavior but more research is required to assess how elements impact interaction quality.