In the chapter A Dog’s Perspective on Animal-Assisted Interventions, L. Glenk addresses a critical gap in the AAI literature: the limited focus on dogs’ welfare and subjective experience. While research on human health benefits of AAIs has expanded rapidly, comparatively little attention has been paid to how participation affects the dogs themselves.
The chapter emphasizes that the demands placed on therapy dogs extend far beyond tolerating close contact with unfamiliar people. Dogs in AAIs must navigate novel environments, unpredictable social interactions, and varying levels of controllability, all of which may influence physiological and behavioral stress responses.
Across the reviewed literature, researchers have used behavioral observations, physiological indicators such as cortisol, and handler-reported surveys to assess canine stress and welfare. However, findings remain conflicting, making it difficult to generalize outcomes or draw firm conclusions about the impact of AAIs on dog well-being.
Glenk identifies several factors that appear to modulate welfare indicators, including frequency and duration of AAI sessions, novelty of the environment, dog age, familiarity with recipients, and the degree of controllability within sessions. These interacting variables contribute to substantial heterogeneity across studies.
To better conceptualize these complexities, the chapter proposes a biopsychosocial model of dog health in AAIs. This framework integrates biological, psychological, and social dimensions of dog welfare and emphasizes that human–animal interaction effects should be evaluated multidimensionally rather than through single indicators.
Additional factors likely influencing canine welfare are discussed, including training methods, attachment to the handler, and inequity aversion in dogs. The chapter concludes that due to small sample sizes, diverse program characteristics, and methodological constraints, current research does not allow definitive conclusions about how AAIs affect therapy dogs, underscoring the need for more rigorous, dog-centered study designs.
Glenk, L. (2019). A Dog’s Perspective on Animal-Assisted Interventions. Published 2019.
