Human-Animal Bond is dedicated to studying the most efficient, positive training methods of Service Dogs through valid research. The trainers have expertise in the area of behavior analysis. As such, all training methods are grounded in empirical evidence for their effectiveness.
One Health is a worldwide initiative focused on increasing interdisciplinary collaboration between the fields of human medicine, veterinary medicine, and environmental health. One Heath supports a holistic approach to research, education, and treatment to improve our understanding of the connections between humans, animals, and the environment. Its primary goal is to promote local, national, and […]
Thinking about Fostering a Service Dog? Watch this video [kad_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_yYAa9KaQ0″ ] “She’s definitely not just a dog, she’s family to me.” Her eyes well up with tears as Kristie Korczyk, animal and nutritional sciences major at West Virginia University, reflects on her relationship with Abbey, the service dog she has been fostering for nearly […]
Teaching behavior analysis in a service dog training program. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis International, Seattle, WA, May 26-29. Foreman, A., Parenti, L.M., Meade, B. J., Wilson, M. E., Scotti, J. R., Wirth, O. (May, 2012). Response acquisition by dogs using a signaled 10-second delay to reinforcement. Poster presented […]
Service dogs include dogs for mobility, vision, hearing, developmental disabilities, diabetic alert, seizure alert, and psychiatric support. They are trained to “provide work or perform tasks related to an individual’s disability.” When accompanied by a service dog, the individual with a disability is afforded some public access protections (Parenti, Foreman, Meade, & Wirth, 2013). Current […]
With the increasing demand for assistance dogs by individuals with physical and/or psychiatric disabilities (Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Government Services, 2010), rapid growth is expected in the number of provider organizations that acquire, breed, train, and place dogs with individuals with disabilities. Unfortunately, there is a lack of information […]
The use of animals in various assistive, therapeutic, and emotional support roles has contributed to the uncoordinated expansion of labels used to distinguish these animals. To address the inconsistent vocabulary and confusion, this article proposes a concise taxonomy for classifying assistance animals. Several factors were identified to differentiate categories, including (1) whether the animal performs […]