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JuliAnna Ávila

What we currently call “horse whispering” has roots in a form of western horsemanship that traveled from Europe to Mexico and the United States, and was then transformed by Native Americans and working cowboys into Vaquero horsemanship. Fine Horses and Fair-Minded Riders: Modern Vaquero Horsemanship documents the learning and practice of Vaquero horsemanship, which has survived as a vibrant part of horse culture. In her study, Ávila first focused on participants in the southeastern United States before expanding to include their mentors from across the United States.

Ávila characterizes what she found as “a collapse of distance” between geographical and cultural boundaries, digital and physical spaces, and, most significantly, horses and humans. Influenced by New Literacies scholarship and employing a sociocultural theoretical framework, Ávila explores self-directed learning journeys; the flexibility of apprentice and expert positions; the influence of consumer culture; the philosophy and significance of the cultural roots of Vaquero horsemanship; the role of technology; and what the future of this continually evolving horsemanship might include. At the heart of this volume are personal stories and firsthand accounts from those who have studied modern Vaquero horsemanship, which can help to create exceptional and powerful bonds between horses and humans.

Purdue University Press

New Directions in the Human-Animal Bond

Fine Horses and Fair-Minded Riders: Modern Vaquero Horsemanship

Kathy M. Finley

My One-Eyed, Three-Legged Therapist: How My Cat Clio Saved Me is the story of how an adorable, spunky, gray-and-white kitten helped the author regain the courage to face life’s challenges and realize that none of us is truly alone. Born into poverty, losing her dad at age seven, and targeted by bullies, Kathy turned to pets for unconditional love and acceptance. A difficult childhood led to an abusive marriage, but things changed on her fortieth birthday when her staff at the organization where she worked gave her an extraordinary cat named Clio. The runt of the litter, a two-time cancer survivor, and a special needs cat, Clio nevertheless had an incredible will to live full tilt. This intrepid feline knew no fear and displayed unlimited self-confidence. She overcame not one, but two, disabilities. By watching Clio thrive despite what life threw at her, Kathy was able to put her own life in perspective by learning to accept the past, embrace the present, and look forward to the future.

My One-Eyed, Three-Legged Therapist: How My Cat Clio Saved Me

Jenny R. Vermilya

Using in-depth interviews with veterinary students, Identity, Gender, and Tracking: The Reality of Boundaries for Veterinary Students explores the experience of enrolment in an educational program that tracks students based on the species of animals that they wish to treat. The identity of a veterinarian is one characterized by care; thus, students have to construct different definitions of care, creating a system of power and inequality. 

Tracking produces multiple boundaries for veterinary students, which has consequences not just for the veterinarian, but also for the treatment of animals. Written for administrators and students alike, Identity, Gender, and Tracking sheds light on how and why veterinary students construct their identities and end up in certain specializations.

Identity, Gender, and Tracking: The Reality of Boundaries for Veterinary Students

Julien Dugnoille

Dogs and Cats in South Korea: Itinerant Commodities shows that though dogs and cats are consumed in the millions each year, they are recipients of both cruelty and care in a very unique way compared to other animal species in South Korean society. The anti-imperialist and postcolonial stances associated with the consumption of dogs and cats in South Korea are oversimplistic. 

Stereotypes by societies that do not eat these animals overshadow the various ways in which South Korean citizens interact with them, including companionship. In fact, many dogs and cats go from companion to livestock, and from livestock to companion, demonstrating that the relationships with these creatures are not only complex, but also fluid. 

The trajectories of the lives of dogs and cats are never linear. In that sense, individual dogs and cats in South Korea are itinerant animals navigating an exchange system based on culture, economics, and politics. With nuance and cultural understanding, Dugnoille tells the complicated stories of these animals in South Korea, as well as the humans who commoditize and singularize them.

Dogs and Cats in South Korea: Itinerant Commodities

Ann R. Howie

Through practical, real-life examples, Assessing Handlers for Competence in Animal-Assisted Interventions provides guidance to any person working with animals in any setting. Facilities that have volunteers who work independently are in the greatest need of competent handlers, yet many of those facilities accept handlers with only proof of animal vaccinations. Other facilities accept an evaluation of the animal-handler team without knowing whether that evaluation relates to their facility or client dynamics. Both of these problems easily can be remedied with basic guidance.

Howie brings more than thirty years of experience as an AAI provider, coordinator, and mental health therapist to bear on the topic of competence for animal handlers. In a friendly, easy-to-read style, she clearly explains the need for competencies while identifying broad categories currently in use. She then outlines training that addresses those competencies based on individual facility and client dynamics. She further describes one model for easily integrating competency assessment into an interview and provides a form for documenting the competency assessment. Additionally, Howie addresses how to deal with problems that can arise in program management.

Anyone who reads this book will come away with the knowledge and confidence to assess handlers’ competence.

Assessing Handlers for Competence in Animal-Assisted Interventions

A primary mission of universities is promoting student success and well-being. Many college and university personnel have implemented initiatives that offer students the documented benefits of positive human-animal interaction (HAI). Accumulating evidence suggests that assistance dogs, therapy dogs, and shelter dogs can support student wellness and learning. The best programs balance the welfare of humans and canines while assessing students’ needs and complying with all laws and regulations. Contributors to this edited volume have drawn upon research across many disciplines as well as their extensive practical experiences to produce a timely and valuable resource—for administrators and students. Whether readers are just getting started or striving to improve well-established programs, The Canine-Campus Connection provides authoritative, evidence-based guidance on bringing college students and canines together in reciprocally beneficial ways. 

Part one examines the interactions between postsecondary students and canines by reviewing the literature on the human-canine bond. It establishes what necessarily must be the top priority in canine-assisted activities and therapy: the health and safety of both. Part two highlights four major categories of dogs that students are likely to interact with on and off campus: service dogs, emotional support animals (ESAs), therapy dogs, and homeless dogs. Part three emphasizes ways in which dogs can influence student learning during classes and across aspects of their professional development. Part four considers future directions. Authors take the stance that enriching and enlarging interactions between college students and canines will require university personnel who plan and evaluate events, projects, and programs. The book concludes with the recommendation that colleges and universities move toward more dog-friendly campus cultures.

The Canine-Campus Connection: Roles for Dogs in the Lives of College Students

Norman F. Cheville

Pioneer Science and the Great Plagues covers the century when infectious plagues—anthrax, tuberculosis, tetanus, plague, smallpox, and polio—were conquered, and details the important role that veterinary scientists played. The narrative is driven by astonishing events that centered on animal disease: the influenza pandemic of 1872, discovery of the causes of anthrax and tuberculosis in the 1880s, conquest of Texas cattle fever and then yellow fever, German anthrax attacks on the United States during World War I, the tuberculin war of 1931, Japanese biological warfare in the 1940s, and today’s bioterror dangers. 

Veterinary science in the rural Midwest arose from agriculture, but in urban Philadelphia it came from medicine; similar differences occurred in Canada between Toronto and Montreal. As land-grant colleges were established after the American Civil War, individual states followed divergent pathways in supporting veterinary science. Some employed a trade school curriculum that taught agriculturalists to empirically treat animal diseases and others emphasized a curriculum tied to science. This pattern continued for a century, but today some institutions have moved back to the trade school philosophy. Avoiding lessons of the 1910 Flexner Report on medical education reform, university-associated veterinary schools are being approved that do not have control of their own veterinary hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, and research institutes—components that are critical for training students in science. Underlying this change were twin idiosyncrasies of culture—disbelief in science and distrust of government—that spawned scientology, creationism, anti-vaccination movements, and other anti-science scams. 

As new infectious plagues continue to arise, Pioneer Science and the Great Plagues details the strategies we learned defeating plagues from 1860 to 1960—and the essential role veterinary science played. To defeat the plagues of today it is essential we avoid the digital cocoon of disbelief in science and cultural stasis now threatening progress.

Pioneer Science and the Great Plagues: How Microbes, War, and Public Health Shaped Animal Health

Dara M. Wald

Anna L. Peterson

Cats and Conservationists is the first multidisciplinary analysis of the heated debate about free-roaming cats. The debate pits conservationists against cat lovers, who disagree both on the ecological damage caused by the cats and the best way to manage them. An impassioned and spirited conflict, it also sheds light on larger questions about how we interpret science, incorporate diverse perspectives, and balance competing values in order to encourage constructive dialogue on contentious social and environmental issues.

On one side of the cat debate stand many environmentalists, especially birders and conservation organizations, who believe that outdoor cats seriously threaten native wildlife. On the other side are many animal welfare advocates, who believe that outdoor cats generally do not pose a major ecological threat and that it is possible for cats and wildlife to coexist. They believe that it is possible, mainly through trap-neuter-return projects (TNR), to keep free-roaming cat populations in check without killing large numbers of cats. 

Careful analysis suggests that there remain important questions about the science on both cat predation and TNR effectiveness. Yet both sides of the conflict insist that the evidence is clear-cut. This false certainty contributes to conflict between conservationists and cat lovers, and obscures common goals that could generate constructive discussions and collaborative efforts among scientists, policymakers, conservationists, and animal welfare advocates. Cats and Conservationists aims to facilitate such collaboration in order to manage outdoor cats and minimize the damage they cause. It also offers models for constructive debates about the public role of science in other polarized public conflicts over science and environmental topics.

Cats and Conservationists: The Debate Over Who Owns the Outdoors

Philip Tedeschi

Molly Anne Jenkins

Have you ever looked deep into the eyes of an animal and felt entirely known? Often, the connections we share with non-human animals represent our safest and most reliable relationships, offering unique and profound opportunities for healing in periods of hardship. This book focuses on research developments, models, and practical applications of human-animal connection and animal-assisted intervention for diverse populations who have experienced trauma. Physiological and psychological trauma are explored across three broad and interconnected domains: 1) child maltreatment and family violence; 2) acute and post-traumatic stress, including military service, war, and developmental trauma; and 3) times of crisis, such as the ever-increasing occurrence of natural disasters, community violence, terrorism, and anticipated or actual grief and loss. Contributing authors, who include international experts in the fields of trauma and human-animal connection, examine how our relationships with animals can help build resiliency and foster healing to transform trauma. A myriad of animal species and roles, including companion, therapy, and service animals are discussed. Authors also consider how animals are included in a variety of formal and informal models of trauma recovery across the human lifespan, with special attention paid to canine- and equine-assisted interventions and psychotherapy. In addition, authors emphasize the potential impacts to animals who provide trauma-informed services, and discuss how we can respect their participation and implement best practices and ethical standards to ensure their well-being. The reader is offered a comprehensive understanding of the history of research in this field, as well as the latest advancements and areas in need of further or refined investigation. Likewise, authors explore, in depth, emerging practices and methodologies for helping people and communities thrive in the face of traumatic events and their long-term impacts. As animals are important in cultures all over the world, cross-cultural and often overlooked animal-assisted and animal welfare applications are also highlighted throughout the text.

Transforming Trauma: Resilience and Healing Through Our Connections With Animals

Vicki Hutton

A Reason to Live explores the human-animal relationship through the narratives of eleven people living with HIV and their animal companions. The narratives, based on a series of interviews with HIV-positive individuals and their animal companions in Australia, span the entirety of the HIV epidemic, from public awareness and discrimination in the 1980s and 1990s to survival and hope in the twenty-first century. Each narrative is explored within the context of theory (for example, attachment theory, the "biophilia hypothesis," neurochemical and neurophysiological effects, laughter, play, death anxiety, and stigma) in order to understand the unique bond between human and animal during an "epidemic of stigma." A consistent theme is that these animals provided their human companions with "a reason to live" throughout the epidemic. Long-term survivors describe past animal companions who intuitively understood their needs and offered unconditional love and support during this turbulent period. More recently diagnosed HIV-positive narrators describe animal companions within the context of hope and the wellness narrative of living and aging with HIV in the twenty-first century. Bringing together these narratives offers insight into one aspect of the multifaceted HIV epidemic when human turned against human, and helps explain why it was frequently left to the animals to support their human companions. Importantly, it recognizes the enduring bond between human and animal within the context of theory and narrative, thus creating a cultural memory in a way that has never been done before.