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Article Dans Une Revue Animals Année : 2023

Service Dogs and Persons with Disabilities: When COVID-19 Lockdown Changes Their Relationship

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Persons with disabilities, who own service dogs, develop strong relationships with them. Since the COVID-19 pandemic decreased the possibility of social contact and modified human relationships, we hypothesized that the COVID-19 lockdown would influence people with disabilities-service dog relationships. An online survey was conducted during the first COVID-19 lockdown in France and included information (e.g., MONASH score) both in the general context prior to and during the COVID-19 lockdown. Seventy owners participated. Compared to the general context, scores for the Perceived Emotional Closeness and Perceived Costs subscales were significantly higher during the COVID-19 lockdown, while scores for the Dog-Owner Interaction subscale were significantly lower during the COVID-19 lockdown. Our study confirmed that service dogs, like other pets, were a source of emotional support for their owners during the COVID-19 lockdown. However, people with disabilities found their relationship with their service dog costlier (e.g., my dog makes too much mess). Our study highlights that, in extreme situations, characteristics of a human-animal relationship can be exacerbated in both positive and negative ways.
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hal-04059613 , version 1 (05-04-2023)

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Marine Grandgeorge, Celine Rochais, Florian Auffret, Nicolas Dollion. Service Dogs and Persons with Disabilities: When COVID-19 Lockdown Changes Their Relationship. Animals, 2023, 13 (5), pp.914. ⟨10.3390/ani13050914⟩. ⟨hal-04059613⟩
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