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There is a growing trend of people who view their pets as family members and would like to include the care and maintenance of the pet as part of their estate planning goals. Billions of dollars are spent each year on pets and 80% of states now have a statute validating some type of pet trust. It is a niche that may present a unique opportunity for the open-minded professional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the widespread practice of keeping companion animals, virtually no consumer behavior studies have been conducted on this phenomenon. The present inquiry uses detailed depth interviews with consumers to expand three a priori themes--animals as friends, animals as self, and animals as family members--and to discuss two emergent themes: (1) companion animals' mediation between nature and culture, and (2) the socialization of consumers' companion animal preference patterns. Building on this knowledge, several directions for future research on companion animals are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If consumer spending is any indication of people's devotion to their pets, then it should come as no surprise that pet care has evolved into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Cats and dogs are the most abundant pets in industrialized countries, and it is now commonplace to speak of pets as family members. The increased spending on pets has been attributed to the sheer number of pets owned by people and, perhaps more revealing, the depth and intensity of the emotional bond that some people experience in their relationship with their pet. Guided by relevant literature, this article uses a psychological lens to explore pet-oriented leisure and consumption, what is potentially driving people's investment in their pets, and what this means for the health and well-being of people and pets. Pets influence people's sense of self and promote happiness by providing enjoyable leisure experiences. Evidence for the impact of pet-related spending on health is sparse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the organization AVMA Street Clinic, launched by the organization American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) under their AVMA Cares program, to provide basis veterinary care for homeless pets. Topics discussed include partnership with organizations such as Street Dog Coalition, founded by Jon Geller, Dumb Friends League, and Animal Foundation of Las Vegas, Nevada, and distribution of hygiene kits and pet food.

Pets are common but their importance to children and early adolescents has received scant empirical attention. This is partly due to a lack of tools for measuring child-pet relationships. The first aim of the present study (involving 77 12-year-olds) was to evaluate a pet adaptation of an established measure of human relationship quality, the Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI). Next, we applied the NRI to examine how pet relationship quality varies with pet type and participant's gender, and to compare participants' relationships with pets and with siblings. Results showed that girls reported more disclosure, companionship, and conflict with their pet than did boys, while dog owners reported greater satisfaction and companionship with their pet than did owners of other pets. Highlighting the importance of early adolescents' pet relationships, participants derived more satisfaction and engaged in less conflict with their pets than with their siblings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pet ownership may continue to be an impediment to evacuation and sheltering for disasters, despite the passage of the 2006 PETS Act. Many Americans consider pets to be a part of the family, and are hesitant to follow evacuate orders if they cannot bring household pets along. We present findings of qualitative data collected from residents in eastern North Carolina, an area that is susceptible to hurricane storm surge flooding, and other severe weather events. Additionally, analysis of hazard mitigation plans for the state of North Carolina and the four areas in which the data were collected reveal that the state level plan includes significant planning for pets, while the local hazard plans do not dedicate plans to address evacuation and sheltering of companion animals. Implications for future research include clear communication about pet friendly shelters, broader inclusion and protection of vulnerable animals that are tied to the human and environmental well-being, and updating local mitigation plans to include specific plans for including animals in evacuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research examines relationships between people and their pets through the lens of the Rusbult Investment Model. The Rusbult Investment Model identifies important antecedents to commitment in a relationship: satisfaction with the relationship, quality of alternatives to the relationship, and investments in the relationship. In turn, commitment predicts enactment of behaviors that involve forgoing one’s own needs to benefit one’s relationship. Among these behaviors are forgiving transgressions, accommodating undesirable behaviors, and sacrificing for the sake of one’s relationship partner. Recent research has revealed that pets benefit humans through conferral of social support. By examining commitment processes in human–pet relationships, relationship duration may be maximized, leading to greater benefits for both the human and the pet. The present research surveyed pet owners about their relationship with their pet (e.g., feelings of commitment, investment) and their willingness to engage in pro-relationship behaviors (e.g., forgiveness, accommodation). Regression analyses revealed that human–pet relationships operate in a similar fashion to human–human relationships in terms of both the predictors and outcomes of commitment. This effect was observed across a range of behaviors, among different types of pets (i.e., dogs, cats, and one fish), and in the context of both current and former relationships. These results suggest that increasing satisfaction and investments and decreasing the perceived quality of one’s alternatives, either individually or in tandem, may benefit human–pet relationships. The findings are discussed in terms of the role these factors may play in pet abandonment and its costs to animal wellbeing. This discourse erects a call for experimental and intervention-focused research that might draw upon both the present and past research on commitment to pets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Puppy assessments for companion dogs have shown mixed long-term reliability. Temperament is cited among the reasons for surrendering dogs to shelters. A puppy temperament test that reliably predicts adult behavior is one potential way to lower the number of dogs given to shelters. This study used a longitudinal design to assess temperament in puppies from 8 different breeds at 7 weeks old (n = 52) and 6 years old (n = 34) using modified temperament tests, physiological measures, and a follow-up questionnaire. For 7-week-old puppies, results revealed (a) puppy breed was predictable using 3 variables, (b) 4 American Kennel Club breed groups had some validity based on temperament, (c) temperament was variable within litters of puppies, and (d) certain measures of temperament were related to physiological measures (heart rate). Finally, puppy temperament assessments were reliable in predicting the scores of 2 of the 8 adult dog temperament measures. However, overall, the puppy temperament scores were unreliable in predicting adult temperament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing body of scientific evidence supporting the existence of emotions in nonhuman animals. Companion-animal owners show a strong connection and attachment to their animals and readily assign emotions to them. In this paper we present information on how the attachment level of companion-animal owners correlates with their attribution of emotions to their companion cat or dog and their attribution of mirrored emotions. The results of an online questionnaire, completed by 1,023 Dutch-speaking cat and/or dog owners (mainly in the Netherlands and Belgium), suggest that owners attribute several emotions to their pets. Respondents attributed all posited basic (anger, joy [happiness], fear, surprise, disgust, and sadness) and complex (shame, jealousy, disappointment, and compassion) emotions to their companion animals, with a general trend toward basic emotions (with the exception of sadness) being more commonly attributed than complex emotions. All pet owners showed strong attachment to their companion animal(s), with the degree of attachment (of both cat and dog owners) varying significantly with education level and gender. Owners who ascribed human characteristics to their dog or cat also scored higher on the Pet Bonding Scale (PBS). Finally, owners who found it pleasant to pet their dog or cat had a higher average PBS score than those who did not like to do so. The relationship between owners’ attributions of mirrored emotions and the degree of attachment to dogs was significant for all emotions, whilst for cats this relationship was significant only for joy, sadness, surprise, shame, disappointment, and compassion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Math anxiety impairs mathematical performance even in people who are capable of completing the mathematical operations. Pets have been shown to both reduce stress and improve performance during mathematical tasks, and thus may be used to alleviate math anxiety. We tested the effects of visual pet stimuli on stress and performance during timed sets of high school level math problems. The math problems were presented in sets with either images of pets, images of desks, or color blocks displayed vertically along the left hand side of the page. Participants reported the lowest levels of stress for the math problems presented with the pet images which confirmed our hypothesis that self-reported stress would be lowest for the math set presented with the visual pet stimuli. Although there was no concurrent increase in performance, the data suggest that the presence of a comforting stimulus could be an aid to help students relieve math anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the changing nature of companion animal-human relationships in Britain over the past 30 years. This period has seen rapid change in attitudes and practices towards companion animals, with notable advances in medical treatment, nutrition, and understanding of non-human animal behavior, as well as re-evaluations of the position of animals within the home. Based upon in-depth interviews with companion animal caretakers and professionals involved in the companion animal industry, we examined these changes in the United Kingdom. Major themes were identified: Humanization, Commercialization, Medicalization, Responsible Companionship, and Alternative Companionship. These changes have had largely positive effects on companion animal health and welfare, but also bring new expectations of the companion relationship, which humans and nonhuman animals may be unable or unwilling to fulfill. While dominant discourses of responsible companionship prevail, the process of change is ongoing and reflects emerging trends in human society towards diversification and alternative lifestyles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "pet effect," whereby interaction with a companion animal reduces the physiological indices of stress, varies with respect to fear of animals, companion animal guardianship, type of companion animal, or types of stress. In this study, a non-clinical sample of 223 undergraduates underwent the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) in order to investigate how interaction with a companion animal affected stress levels for people with different levels of trait anxiety, a variable not yet investigated in this paradigm. An index of trait anxiety was taken along with repeated measures of state anxiety, blood pressure, and heart rate. Overall results indicated that interaction with a companion dog reduced stress for all participants, with the effect being more pronounced for those high in trait anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined attitudes toward nonhuman animal welfare and rights and career aspirations in Australian and Turkish veterinary students. A representative university was selected in each country, with 190 first- and third-year students sampled in each. Survey questions addressed attitudes toward nonhuman animal welfare/rights, and intended career. Australian and Turkish students were predominately female and male, respectively, but attitudes were similar between sexes. Australian students rated keeping companion animals and hormonal desexing more acceptable, and food and rest deprivation, pain during slaughter, and using animals in experiments less acceptable than Turkish students. Keeping companion animals related strongly with students' moral values, their decision to study veterinary medicine, and program satisfaction. More Australian than Turkish students wanted to enter clinical practice. Thus veterinary students of these two culturally contrasting countries demonstrated both differences and universalities, such as companion animal keeping, which influenced their attitudes toward animals and career aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Negative attitudes toward dogs are common in Muslim societies. Thus, in studying both past and present Muslim writings on dogs, a contradictory picture emerges, indicating that Muslim attitudes toward dogs have had their ambiguities. At times the dog has been presented as the lowest, filthiest, and vilest of creatures, and at times the dog appears as a perfect role model, exemplifying qualities like loyalty, devotion, and self-sacrifice. There are signs that attitudes toward dogs are changing in some Muslim societies. One such sign is that an increasing number of people in Muslim countries are now keeping dogs as companion animals. The following research will be used to highlight ambiguities as well as changes in order to not only better understand the position of the dog within Islam, but also to provide a very concrete example of how interpretations of religions are not isolated or single but are dependent on context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluorescent zebrafish are the first genetically modified animals globally, if unevenly, circulated outside of laboratory environments. GloFish® were developed in Singapore. They are widely sold as popular pets in the United States, but their public sale is banned in Europe and elsewhere. On the trail of these animals, I trace a fragmentary biogeography through ethnographic encounters in the spaces of scientific research, animal exhibits, pet stores, and art galleries, in Europe, the USA, and Singapore. At each site, as the colour, light, and intensities of neon flicker with the potential for life, and concern for animal lives move in and out of focus, I ask: what is the proper way of knowing and living with genetically altered zebrafish? To ask the question is to open up a conversation about the changing constitution of science and space, representation, and reproduction in relation to these new forms of life. To try to answer it demands attention to a baroque patterning of scientific practices, aesthetic sensibilities, ethical responsibilities, and political spatialities. In a discursive arena typically characterised by narratives of linearity--whether of scientific progress or slippery slopes--I suggest the affective sensibilities, theatrical qualities, and unresolved elements of the baroque offer powerful, if ambivalent, resources for reflection on the intersection between the animating aesthetics and turbulent ethics of postgenomic life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neural substrates underlying the human-pet relationship are largely unknown. We examined fMRI brain activation patterns as mothers viewed images of their own child and dog and an unfamiliar child and dog. There was a common network of brain regions involved in emotion, reward, affiliation, visual processing and social cognition when mothers viewed images of both their child and dog. Viewing images of their child resulted in brain activity in the midbrain (ventral tegmental area/substantia nigra involved in reward/affiliation), while a more posterior cortical brain activation pattern involving fusiform gyrus (visual processing of faces and social cognition) characterized a mother's response to her dog. Mothers also rated images of their child and dog as eliciting similar levels of excitement (arousal) and pleasantness (valence), although the difference in the own vs. unfamiliar child comparison was larger than the own vs. unfamiliar dog comparison for arousal. Valence ratings of their dog were also positively correlated with ratings of the attachment to their dog. Although there are similarities in the perceived emotional experience and brain function associated with the mother-child and mother-dog bond, there are also key differences that may reflect variance in the evolutionary course and function of these relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the middle of the 20th century, pets are more frequently considered as "family members" within households. However, cats and dogs still can be a source of human infection by various zoonotic pathogens. Among emerging or re-emerging zoonoses, viral diseases, such as rabies (mainly from dog pet trade or travel abroad), but also feline cowpox and newly recognized noroviruses or rotaviruses or influenza viruses can sicken our pets and be transmitted to humans. Bacterial zoonoses include bacteria transmitted by bites or scratches, such as pasteurellosis or cat scratch disease, leading to severe clinical manifestations in people because of their age or immune status and also because of our closeness, not to say intimacy, with our pets. Cutaneous contamination with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Leptospira spp., and/or aerosolization of bacteria causing tuberculosis or kennel cough are also emerging/re-emerging pathogens that can be transmitted by our pets, as well as gastro-intestinal pathogens such as Salmonella or Campylobacter. Parasitic and fungal pathogens, such as echinococcosis, leishmaniasis, onchocercosis, or sporotrichosis, are also re-emerging or emerging pet related zoonoses. Common sense and good personal and pet hygiene are the key elements to prevent such a risk of zoonotic infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 10 million Germans have a dog as a pet. Sometimes it represents the best friend and it often may be an alternative for children or a partner. In the last few years, there has been a tendency to consider animals close to man, a good reason for specialised companies to take advantage of this hobby and significantly increase their sales in this field. The historian Wolfgang Wippermann, in his book Die Deutschen und ihre Hunde (The Germans and their dogs) noticed the incarnation of the dogs into human beings having the needs and the characteristics close to their owners. There are persons who turn their dog into an object of veneration. For over a decade there have been magazines and special shops for dog owners as well as websites, like facebook for dogs where more than 15 000 quadrupeds are signed in (www.stadthunde.com). Cosmetics for dogs, such as toothpaste which tastes like chicken or shampoo for the fur, cost the German pet owners an average, about 3, 7 billion, according to the statistics made by the Central Organization of the Zoo Stores (Zoologischer Zentralverband Fachbetriebe). The food for big dogs costs 90 Euros per month in Germany, plus a canine psychologist and massage sessions. In Germany, there are over 5 million dogs, half of a quarter million are from the German Shepherd breed, famous for its loyalty, intelligence and cooperativeness. This dog had an active role in the German history; the Nazis rose it to an icon status within their ideology as a means of propaganda and terror in the concentration camps. After the Second World War, the dogs belonging to this breed had different characteristics in the two halves of Germany. After the unification, a compromise had been reached to so that the current breed possesses the best characteristics of the two types. Today, the German Shepherd is recognized both in the role of Austrian Commissioner Rex, and worldwide there are registered around 10 million copies, according to the World Union of Associations of German shepherd dogs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human-animal relationships are both ubiquitous and diverse across the life span, and may be especially salient among children and adolescents. Although research into youth involvement in human-animal interaction (HAI) is growing, existing data have not adequately explored the developmental processes associated with HAI. The purpose of this article is to discuss why relational developmental systems models, which explore bidirectional influences between individuals and their contexts, constitute a useful paradigm for addressing the challenges and complexities in research pertaining to human-animal relations, particularly in the study of positive youth development. Recommendations are presented for building the field of youth HAI research through expanding the exploration of animal relationships in ways that may serve to promote trajectories of positive development across childhood and adolescence. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No abstract available Copyright © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human relationships with companion animals (cats) and nondomestic, wilder animals (coyotes) are explored in terms of domestic and nondomestic spaces in urban and nonurban settings. What companion animals contribute to and mean to human well-being is considered alongside the perceived need to protect companion animals from wilder animals while allowing them to live naturally, a contested category. Questions related to companion animal/human relationships are explored: do humans romanticize their relationships with their companion animals? Is that to the detriment of other animals' well-being? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans and rats relate to each other in a variety of ways. Consider the different ways that humans relate to rats in the sewer, the laboratory, and the living room: depending on the location of the encounter, human-rat relations can be characterized as hostile, instrumental, or friendly. Rather than searching for a single human-animal relation, this article suggests that the multiple and contradictory relations between humans and nonhuman animals deserve an explanation. The article argues that the multiplicity of human-animal relations can be better understood by approaching them as situated practices: as practical and precarious accomplishments that take place in specific settings. This approach is applied to the relation between humans and fancy rats. By studying how humans in particular settings come to befriend the same animal that is simultaneously despised and feared as dirty and treacherous when encountered elsewhere, the article shows how these relationships emerge as enactments of situated practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that Japan and notions of Japaneseness are becoming “postfamilial” in breaking from earlier models and roles, and that one aspect of Japan's post-familial shift can be observed in the sharp rise in the number of “fuzzy” household members, specifically dogs, cats, and rabbits over the past three decades. In Japan, pets now outnumber children under the age of 15. The number one consumer of companion animals is also the fastest growing demographic in Japan: adults whose adult children have left home. Dogs are the focus of this paper. Dogs are more publicly prominent than cats or rabbits and they are an increasing presence in homes, parks, and cafés in urban Japan. Moreover, the representation of human–canine relations has become prominent in popular media; for example “the Softbank dog,”Kaikun, has become a television advertising celebrity. Furry familiar others are projected to be an ever-increasing presence in urban Japan. Thus, “fuzzy” also denotes the boundary blurring familial roles that some dogs encroach upon. This paper discusses how touch, affect, and embodiment entangle in dealing with urban Japan's exploding population of companion canines; a space where dogs are coming to be viewed as stand-in or surrogate fathers, friends, and even lovers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many animal species have been domesticated over the course of human history and became tame as a result of domestication. Tameness is a behavioral characteristic with 2 potential components: (1) reluctance to avoid humans and (2) motivation to approach humans. However, the specific behavioral characteristics selected during domestication processes remain to be clarified for many species. To quantify these 2 different components of tameness separately, we established 3 behavioral tests: the 'active tame', 'passive tame' and 'stay-on-hand' tests. We subjected genetically diverse mouse strains to these tests, including 10 wild strains ( BFM/ 2Ms, PGN2/Ms, HMI/Ms, BLG2/Ms, NJL/Ms, KJR/Ms, SWN/Ms, CHD/Ms, MSM/Ms and CAST/Ei), a fancy strain ( JF1/Ms) and 6 standard laboratory strains ( C3H/ HeNJcl, CBA/J, BALB/ cAnNCrlCrlj, DBA/ 2JJcl, 129+Ter/ SvJcl and C57BL/ 6JJcl). To analyze the effects of domestication, these 17 strains were divided into 2 groups: domesticated strains (fancy and laboratory strains) and wild strains. Significant differences between strains were observed in all traits, and the calculated estimates of broad-sense heritability were 0.15-0.72. These results illustrate that tameness in mice is significantly influenced by genetic background. In addition, they clearly show the differences in the features of tameness in domesticated and wild strains. Most of the domesticated strains showed significantly greater reluctance to avoid humans than wild strains, whereas there was no significant difference in the level of motivation to approach humans between these 2 groups. These results might help to clarify the genetic basis of tameness in mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined the performance of dingoes ( Canis dingo) on the rope-pulling task, previously used by Miklósi et al. (Curr Biol 13:763-766, ) to highlight a key distinction in the problem-solving behaviour of wolves compared to dogs when in the company of humans. That is, when dogs were confronted with an unsolvable task, following a solvable version of the task they looked back or gazed at the human, whereas, wolves did not. We replicated the rope-pulling task using 12 sanctuary-housed dingoes and used the Miklósi et al. (Curr Biol 13:763-766, ) definition of looking back behaviour to analyse the data. However, at least three different types of look backs were observed in our study. We, then developed a more accurate operational definition of looking back behaviour that was task specific and reanalysed the data. We found that the operational definition employed greatly influences the results, with vague definitions potentially overestimating the prevalence of looking back behaviour. Thus, caution must be taken when interpreting the results of studies utilising looking back as behaviour linked to assistance seeking during problem solving. We present a more stringent definition and make suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the ethological-evolutionary framework of attachment, and including how the theory has been updated and expanded by findings from attachment-based research, neuroscience and animal studies, this paper proposes that a relationship with a family pet, especially a dog or cat, reflects certain dynamics of attachment which may account for the sense of comfort and connection they provide to individuals at all stages of the life cycle. There is now convincing scientific evidence that companion animals have positive effects on psychological and physical well-being, helping shape how people regulate their emotions, deal with stress or trauma, and relate to others. Discussion considers the implications of these benefits for social work, in particular for policy, prevention, and psychotherapy. An illustration of treatment for pet loss, as well as a framework for promoting attachment in pets adopted from rescue shelters, is also presented. It is recommended that both social work professionals and social work students be educated about the human-animal bond and the significance of pets to so many of our clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how the toy dog mediated relations of racial, sexual and species difference and helped establish a luxury market for the pet as a racialized fetish object in the eighteenth-century England. The pug and the King Charles spaniel were both East Asian breeds of dog brought to England and domesticated, becoming favoured symbols of national culture. Techniques of miniaturization spawned by the porcelain version of the animals were developed along with biological arts.

This article discerns how human-animal boundaries are played with and blurred through familial love of pets in Israel. It explores the ways interspecies relationships in Israel enable incorporation of animals into the (human) familial sphere and the extent and limits of this inclusion. The analysis of the incorporation of pets into households of 52 couples reveals pets are treated as loving and loved members of the family, very similar to small children. At the same time, long-term ethnographic research reveals that many loving relationships with animals do not endure: when life changes and unexpected situations pose obstacles to the human-animal love, the people involved may redefine or terminate it. Pets are treated as 'flexible persons' or 'emotional commodities'; they are loved and incorporated into human lives but can at any moment be demoted and moved outside of the home and the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The encounter between dog and (potential) owner is the catalyst for Natan's interrogation of the human/animal binary. Drawing on Haraway's concept of 'companion species', the article explores the film's critique of a double commodification of animals: as pets, and in agribusiness, via Viggo's kebab-shop chain and consumption of meat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 11,000 years humans have brought a wide variety of animals under domestication. Domestic animals belong to all Linnaean animal classes-mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects, and even, arguably, bacteria. Raisedforfood, secondary products, labor and companionship, domestic animals have become intricately woven into human economy, society, and religion. Animal domestication is an on-going process, as humans, with increasingly sophisticated technology for breeding and rearing animals in captivity, continue to bring more and more species under their control. Understanding the process of animal domestication and its reciprocal impacts on humans and animal domesticates requires a multidisciplinary approach. This paper brings together recent research in archaeology, genetics, and animal sciences in a discussion of the process of domestication, its impact on animal domesticates, and the various pathways humans and their animal partners have followed into domestication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the 2011 Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) Practice Owners Economic Survey on the six percent decline of active clients in companion animal practices. It says that the drop in clients is not specific to any Canadian region and companion animal hospitals prevent the attribution. It mentions that the misinterpretation of practice owners in the term active clients is the reason for a drop.

There is a widespread belief that interaction with an animal is beneficial for the development of children, and several studies (most with methodological shortcomings) have investigated the influence of (companion) animals on the social-emotional and cognitive development of children. In this article, the 1984 model of Professor Jay Belsky has been used to describe which variables influence the development of children and how the companion animal-child interaction influences these variables. The value of the AAA/AAT (Animal Assisted Activities/Animal Assisted Therapy) programmes in children with a wide variety of clinical and social problems, such as behaviour problems and autistic spectrum symptoms, is discussed. The findings suggest that (companion) animals positively influence children's development and have a valuable role in therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]