Hockenhull and Furtado [ 2] have suggested that this is an opportune time to reflect on the confinements and lack of choice we offer to domesticated animals, and whether such self-reflections could lead us to improve their welfare. See our privacy statementto find out how we collect and use your data, to contact us with privacy questions or to exercise your personal data rights. assigned undergraduate psychology students into three groups, a mindfulness practice group, a dog interaction group without mindfulness practice, and a no intervention control group. Dogs would naturally indulge in mindfulness and turn towards what feels good and away from what doesn’t – but they live with us!

Think of them as a mindfulness mentor, a linguist, and a behaviorist rolled into one, well-versed in the subtle cues of your canine companion. The time it takes for your exchanged product to reach you, may vary, depending on where you live, and the postal service. The DAM group and DI group also received additional weekly questionnaires to complete about their experiences with the prescribed task.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. More often than not, dogs react negatively towards unknown dogs because they are afraid and unfortunately, when they detect that their dog parent is anxious, they jump to the conclusion that you, too, are frightened of the other dog, and hey presto, it becomes a vicious circle.

This week’s recording invited participants to engage with their sense of sight, with the object of focus being the dog’s breathing.Yet, beneath their diverse appearances lies a shared language—a way of communication that invites us to delve into the mindful art of understanding. The FMI uses a four-point Likert-type scale ‘rarely’, ‘occasionally’, ‘fairly often’ and ‘almost always’ with higher scores representing higher mindfulness. We’re all so busy these days, from work in the traditional sense to cooking, cleaning, and everything else that comes with running a household. Using our own experiences of being “locked down” as a reference point, this study offers two novel ways in which owners can attempt to enrich the lives of their dogs at home. I ask clients to praise their dogs many times a day when they appear settled and relaxed thereby ‘shaping’ more settled and relaxed behaviour.

Sitting cross-legged is traditional but few people can sit that way comfortable for long so you can kneel, sit with your back against furniture or even lie down on your back. In other words, when we decide to practice mindfulness with our dogs – or ‘dog meditation’, it might be useful to start to think more like a dog and be ‘present’ and encourage our dogs to be able to be more like us and have down time. Scores are reversed, summed, and then averaged and so range from 1–5 with higher scores indicating higher emotional closeness. However, in addition to these, an individual week(s) may have had uniquely high endorsement of a theme not shown in this Table.The other was a dog interactions intervention, whereby participants spent at least 7 min of undivided attention interacting with their dog in different ways each week.