In line with Hockenhull and Furtado [ 2] we need to consider our pet keeping practices and how owners have a responsibility to enrich the lives of their pets. At Mindfulness4Dogs, our mission is to achieve success through enhancing the connection and communication between dogs and their owners.

While both interventions clearly brought about a range of positive effects for the owners (refer to Table 7 and Table 8), a notable difference can be seen for the animal, with ‘Dog: fun/enjoyable/happy’ only being endorsed in the DI group. People too, need to start to learn to relax in situations where, we too, are already relaxed, not in situations where we are already feeling stressed, such as just before a job interview! Many family dogs in a busy household are worried about missing out so they are always awake and alert in case something is going on that they might be missing out on.

Internalizing symptoms and loneliness: Direct effects of mindfulness and protection against the negative effects of peer victimization and exclusion. Follow the Lead: Participants were instructed to follow their dog’s lead doing anything they believed it wanted to do.

In many countries including Australia, one hour of daily exercise has been permitted during lockdown periods. The FMI uses a four-point Likert-type scale ‘rarely’, ‘occasionally’, ‘fairly often’ and ‘almost always’ with higher scores representing higher mindfulness. This Mental Health Awareness Month, experts share the science-backed ways our pets offer us emotional support. In conclusion, this study provides a demonstration of two easy to implement interventions: DAM and DI, that owners can complete with their dogs from the comfort of their homes.Rather than immediately protesting to get out I thought ‘if I stay here I will have to do nothing, eventually frustration will give way to resignation and I will calm’. Considering how challenging mindfulness practices can be to learn and maintain (for example, [ 18, 19]), the presence of a dog may help with participant adherence to a mindfulness program and/or increase motivation and engagement. At Best Behaviour Dog Training, we strive to provide ethical, effective, positive training for dogs and humans alike.

If you’re sitting in a quiet place on your phone and your dog joins you, you can take advantage of the moment and ditch the phone to focus on your dog instead. So if you’re practicing mindfulness, chances are that your dog will settle down and share that moment of peace with you.Statements are answered using a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from ‘Strongly Agree’ to ‘Strongly Disagree’. Office for National Statistics Recommended National Indicators of Loneliness: Overview of Our Recommendations for National Measures of Loneliness. m. curfew, a 1 h exercise limit, restrictions on movement beyond a 5 km radius of one’s home without a permit, and mandatory mask wearing anywhere outside of the home. This likely reflects that most people who self-selected into the study were dog lovers who already had a high level of emotional closeness with their dogs.

Having a lead or long line on your dog means they won’t be able to chase after wildlife or run up to the dog that appeared from around the corner if they get distracted and therefore won’t build a reinforcement history for the behaviour of running off. I believe that this accounts for much of why people choose to keep pets, they provide a connection to nature and a simpler way of being. The encouraging news is that we can all become fluent in ‘dog speak,’ especially when we start the learning process with our furry companions in their early days. I ask clients to praise their dogs many times a day when they appear settled and relaxed thereby ‘shaping’ more settled and relaxed behaviour.If the bed is introduced so as the dog makes a ‘positive emotional response’, then the simple act of going to the bed will trigger physiological and psychological relaxation. This training needs to be started in an environment where both the trainer and dog are already relaxed, far away from any problem situation. The Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI; [ 21]) short 14 item version was used to measure participants mindfulness during a specific time frame (e. Dogs are perfectly content to place themselves in the most comfortable situation available to them at that moment – ‘it’s hot, I’ll go under a tree’. It was hypothesized that a six-week Dog Assisted Mindfulness (DAM) intervention and a Dog Interactions (DI) intervention would positively impact owner-rated loneliness, mindfulness, and owner–dog emotional attachment, compared to a control group.